Fireflies
by SiriusUntiltheVeryEnd
Summary: There they stood watching the fireflies dance on the long blades of grass, and though they didn't ask for this, or even chose this, there wasn't a place in the world they'd rather be. And it all started with a fight and a spell.
1. An Experiment

Some people believe that if we meet the love of our life before we're ready we still keep coming back to that person. We don't know why at the time, but we can't seem to help ourselves. It's a yo-yo effect and, with every encounter, we come closer and closer to the people with whom we are meant to be.

* * *

The process that guided Rose Weasley and Scorpius Malfoy to that point started like most of their encounters did, with a fight. Although Scorpius Malfoy would be the last person, and the last person by a long distance, to admit it, he had always thought that Rose Weasley was beautiful. It hit him the first time he saw her on the train platform. The light hit her bright red hair perfectly, making her stand out from every other girl his age. His father, Draco Malfoy, saw his eleven year old son's transfixed face and instantly discouraged him.

"Scorpius, I want you to be careful. Our family name has a lot of weight to it, and with that comes obligation. I don't care who you are friends with. But don't get interested in a Weasley or Potter girl. They are trouble."

Ever since that moment, Scorpius had made it a point to avoid Rose Weasley, but since he became fast friends with her favorite cousin, Albus, avoiding her was kind of difficult. First year through third year, he just coldly ignored her as if she didn't exist. But, when she came back in fourth year, he found that impossible to do. So, instead, he picked fights with her for the longest time, and he did it cruelly, without any sort of consideration for her feelings. All he thought about was keeping her away from him. But last year, Albus took him aside and asked him to be nicer to Rose.

Albus ruffled his untidy black hair and said, "Look, I get it. You hate her. I don't know why you do, but you do. But can you not be so mean to her? I know she's tough, but you don't have to go as far as you do."

Respecting his friendship with Albus more than his halfhearted promise to his father, Scorpius conceded and, from that point on, he had taken his attempts down a couple of notches. Now he teased her, threw things at her, but he wasn't malicious or vindictive about it. It was more out of desire for entertainment than anything else because, honestly, he could just leave her alone, but by the time that idea had gotten into his head it was too late.

Rose pushed her long red hair out of her face as her thick arched eyebrows furrowed together. It was early April, and soon she would be finishing up her last year at Hogwarts. As Head Girl and top student in her class, she sat in the library working out her schedule for the rest of the week. Though the year was coming to a close, she still had a lot of things left to do and maybe more on her mind.

Across from her sat Albus and her best friend, Charlie. Albus's green eyes were stuck on a Quidditch book, as he leaned back on the back pegs of his chair. Charlie was fixing her high ponytail, her elegant black hair falling sleekly past her shoulders. Under the pretense of studying, Charlie had come with all of her charms homework even though Rose knew for a fact that she had finished it the day before. Unfortunately, Albus was completely clueless to this.

Charlie shared a look with Rose. "I have to meet Jack. I'll see you guys later."

"Bye," Rose replied sympathetically.

Albus nodded, but didn't even bother to look up.

Rose considered saying something to him, but bit her tongue as she saw Scorpius Malfoy waltz into the library. His blonde hair swept across his grey eyes carelessly as he strutted up to Albus.

As soon as he saw his friend, Albus lowered his book and a rather large grin grew on his face.

"Scor! What's new?"

Malfoy grinned, "Nothing just looking for a book."

"We still on for later?"

"Of course."

Albus nodded and went back to his book as Scorpius rounded the table and went behind the bookshelf they sat behind. As he did, his eyes set on Rose's unintentionally. They stared at each other like two people in a Mexican stand-off might eye each other before they reached for their shooting pistols. Rose relaxed as soon Malfoy was out of sight and went back to thinking her plans and tasks for the next week.

Biting the end of her quill, Rose yawned as a wave of exhaustion came over her. If she hadn't yawned, she might have noticed a book rising from its shelf and heading right for her. The first book just smacked her arm, but after the third book hit her forehead, she began to get really annoyed.

"Malfoy," Rose spat through gritted teeth, her big brown eyes wide with fury. "Quit charming books to hit me."

Another book soared across the air and smacked her across the face.

"I mean it! One more book!" Rose glowered at her cousin," Al! Do something!"

Albus raised his hands in innocence. "What do you expect me to do?"

"He's your friend! Why don't you tell him to stop it?"

Shaking his head knowingly, Albus grabbed his bag and got up to leave. "I'm staying out of this."

Another book came flying over and clipped Rose's chin. She threw her hands up and gave Albus a look. "That's it!"

Rose ran to the other side of the bookshelf, not even bothering to grab her wand. Rose lunged at Malfoy and gripped his collar. The rest of his face remained cold and emotionless, but his steel eyes, filled with wild amusement, gave him away.

"WHY ARE YOU THROWING BOOKS AT ME? WHAT IS THE PURPOSE IN THAT?"

He smirked, a look that worked so well on his face that Rose thought it should be marked a cardinal sin. "Do you have any proof that it was me?"

"ARE YOU TAKING THE MICKEY OUT OF ME? THERE'S NO ONE ELSE IN HERE!"

"Actually," he corrected her in a calm tone. "There're about ten people in here, all perfectly capable of cursing you. If I were you I'd get some proof before I shot harsh accusations at innocent bystanders."

"You," She pointed at his face hatefully, "Scorpius Malfoy, are anything but innocent!"

Malfoy shrugged, "You are mad."

"MAD…MAD? YOU WANT TO SEE MAD?" Rose, put her leg around him and used all of her strength to throw him down onto the ground.

Shocked, Scorpius allowed her to get the upper hand for a few seconds before he reflexively tried to hold her back, which only made her fight harder. They rolled on the floor viciously, Rose was the one actually trying to get a hit in, and Scorpius was mostly trying to stop her from hurting him.

As she kicked and scratched him, he couldn't help but laugh. He didn't know what it was in him that drove him to provoke her, but he did know that he loved the reaction he got from her when he did. There was a spark in Rose Weasley, which, if he just bothered her just enough, ignited into a rage-filled fire that he loved to see.

Today, however, wasn't a good day to set her off because, in the chaos of the fight, the new librarian, Madame Thatcher, ran to go get the Headmaster. Apparently, after the last time when they took out three bookshelves, she had had enough. By the time she had come back with Headmaster Higgins, half the books were knocked off the shelf, and Scorpius had a bruised jaw.

"When you two are finished." The headmaster began in a cool voice that instant struck a chord with them to stop. "I'd like to see you both in my office."

The headmaster then turned on his heel and left without another word. Rose, who was half-straddling Scorpius at this point, blushed bright red, deeper than even her trademark Weasley hair. She blushed not only at the fact that she had let Malfoy get the better of her but also because of the circumstance the headmaster found her in when he did.

Pushing herself to her feet, she went over to the desk she was working at and collected her things. With her mind beginning to whirl in panic, she raced towards the door with Scorpius hot on her heels.

Guilt, horrible adolescent guilt, crawled up Rose Weasley's throat as she walked to the headmaster's office with Scorpius Malfoy. The only thing that could rival that feeling was the rage she felt towards the tall blonde male next to her. This was all his fault. Yes, Rose should have been the bigger person and left or ignored him, but didn't it matter that he had started the provocation in the first place? Rose wasn't so sure.

In furious silence, they went up to Headmaster Higgins' office. When they knocked, the man told them to enter. They both grabbed the door handle at the same time. After a sharing a heated glare with her rival, Rose pushed Scorpius out of the way to walk in first. Once they entered the office, Rose's anger for Scorpius faded and the guilt took over. The headmaster eyed them both through his aging brown eyes and sighed, a small smile creeping onto his features.

"Sit, both of you."

They did, both of their stomachs twisting and turning in anticipation for what their punishment would be today.

"You both gave me an idea today." He began, "See, I've seen you both in this office very often, and you both seem to bring out something in each other that no one else can. And, I believe that we can use this what's the word… ah, quality of yours for a good cause."

Rose's throat tightened as she became incredibly paranoid as to what that could mean.

He went on to stand up, "For a long time, I have watched the houses partake in a heated rivalry, and you two are the worst offenders. But, I have an idea that might make it better. Call it an experiment."

"I'm sorry, Sir," Rose began in a pitch that was much higher than her normal voice, "What kind of experiment?"

"For the next three weeks, you two won't be able to go farther than three feet away from each other."

Rose was in total shock, her body numb and her jaw open in horror. Adapting quicker than Rose, Scorpius let out a dry, uncomfortable laugh and looked at the Headmaster questionably. He had been patient and willing to take on any punishment the headmaster felt they deserved, but this, he felt, was completely impractical.

"Excuse me professor, I don't mean to be rude, but you can't be serious. There's no way that will work-"

"Quidditch season has been delayed if that's what you're worried about, Mr. Malfoy. But, I want you two to serve as an example to the rest of the student body because, if I see a case like yours again, they too will be stuck together in the same arrangement."

Without any more instruction, Headmaster Higgins raised his dark skinned arm and waved his wand placing a non-verbal spell on the pair. Rose and Scorpius felt nothing but worry and blind panic.

"Now I will see you two when you make your next report, and then again when I take the spell off." Headmaster Higgins said in a calm collected tone. "I warn you not to attempt to do so yourself, because, trust me when I say, it will not work."

Scorpius and Rose shared a look, as they were unsure if they were being dismissed and of what exactly was happening. But, after a beat or two of silence, they both stood and walked out the door.

"That was…strange." Scorpius whispered shutting the headmaster's door.

Rose nodded, her brown eyes wide. "You don't think this is…real? Do you? I mean it's not even legal, is it? He can't be serious, can he?"

"I don't know…" Scorpius furrowed his eyebrows and eyed her. "Let's test it out."

"Fine," Rose scowled, still furious at him for getting them into trouble in the first place.

Scorpius, who was now only a foot or so away from five foot nine inch ginger, took a few steps. He didn't know which step was the wrong one, but he didn't have time to calculate it because, at that moment, Rose came flying at him, knocking him down the remainder of the steps. Groaning, Rose rolled off of him for the second time that day and set him with a heated glare.

"I guess he wasn't joking." Scorpius breathed in surprise as he tried to catch the breath Rose had knocked out of him.

"You think?"

* * *

**Authors Note:**

**Thank you to mspstar97 for editing this chapter!**


	2. Adaptability

"So," Albus started, with a face full of laughter, "You two really can't be more than three feet away from each other?"

"No Albus," Rose began in hostile sarcastic tone as she rested her arms on her knees. "We're joking."

Albus raised his long arms up in innocence, a common gesture with him these days. "Just checking."

Rose tossed her long straightened hair over her shoulder as she leaned back on her common room wall. Scorpius was across from her leaning against the coffee table. She may have been the one who was outspokenly furious about this whole thing, but it was Scorpius who would pay the bigger consequences. It was him after all that had a late night date tonight, and three more lined up for this week. How was he supposed to do that when Rose Weasley was constantly around?

The only person in the Head common room who thought the situation was the slightest bit funny was Albus. He had come looking for Scorpius and was shocked to find him and Rose sitting in the same room together, alone, in a heated silence. Scorpius was sporting a bruise on his left cheekbone, which looked the perfect sized for Rose's small little fist. Even if it didn't, Albus knew that no one else would resort to punching Malfoy when they had a perfectly working wand in their possession. Only Rose would let him get her riled up enough to forget her biggest advantage.

"So how long is this punishment going to last?"

"Three weeks." Rose replied bitterly, her scowl deepening.

Albus dropped down on the arm chair that stood in between them. "How are you guys going to…shower and where you are you going to sleep?"

Finally losing her patience, Rose let out a large breath, and narrowed her eyes at Albus. "I don't know Albus! I don't know what he's going to do about Quidditch practices! I don't know what we are going to do about classes! I don't know what we are going to do about the bathroom situation! I don't know! I don't know! I don't know! Okay?"

"Clearly," Albus said cautiously, "I'm not helping. So I'll see you both tomorrow. If you need anything…Yeah."

Then Albus stood up, flicking his messy black hair out of his pale face and walking out before Rose could kill him. Rose let out a groan and slid farther down the wall in aggravation. Always the point man, Scorpius brought his hands together and tried to be logical.

"Okay why don't we come up with a system?" He suggested.

Rose's eyes narrowed. _"A system_?"

"Yes. A system."

"Well by all means elaborate on this magnificent system you have planned out." Rose snapped.

Scorpius let out a heavy sigh. "Look I know you're in a right state, and I know you think it's my fault-"

"It is your fault!"

"I know you think it's my fault," Scorpius repeated as if she had never spoken, but why don't we just try and be civil to get through this?"

Rose scoffed. "I was never the one that had the problem doing that."

"My face feels differently." Scorpius pointed out.

"You slapped me in the face with five books for no-good-reason. Anything I did to you after that point was well deserved."

Scorpius ignored that and went on. "So you agree to be civil?"

"Once again," She huffed, "It's always you that starts it."

"If you truly believe that," He said every word filled with pompousness. "Then you should have no problem agreeing to it."

"Fine, I'll try to be civil." Rose pushed herself up to a sitting position. "Where are we going to sleep?"

Scorpius turned and eyed the two staircases nervously. "We could bring our beds down here, but three feet is just the size of one of those beds…."

"Are you saying…" She gulped down the disgust in her voice. "That we have to sleep in the same bed?"

"I'm saying I don't know what else we could do."

Rose bit her lip in thought. There had to be another solution, there was no way in hell she was sharing a bed with Scorpius Malfoy. "What about sleeping bags?"

"Sleeping bags?"

"We'd each have our own and then that way we'd have our own space."

Scorpius nodded, but then his face tensed as he looked extremely uncomfortable. "I still don't know how the bathroom situation is going to work…"

"Why don't we hit that bridge when we get there? I'm more worried about how the hell we are going to spend the whole day together without killing each other." Rose admitted freely, her dislike for him as blunt as it had ever been.

"Well," Scorpius checked his thick gold watch that was undoubtedly a Malfoy family heirloom. "Dinner's in ten minutes."

Rose pushed herself to her feet and gave him an apprehensive look. "I guess we better go."

There had always been tension between Rose and Scorpius, this kind of toxic electric currency running between them. Rose did her best to run from it, while Scorpius seemed to learn to take it head on. Right now though, they both wished they'd just stayed away from the library that day. At full height Rose noticed that Scorpius was one of the few men that still towered over her, and that thought alone added to her building her irritation. Scorpius frowned and walked to the portrait hole, reluctantly waiting for her to follow.

"This is going to be hell." Rose muttered under her breath with a small laugh.

Scorpius nodded, "That sounds about right."

* * *

Walking through the empty corridor, Rose crossed her arms around herself as the chill of the April spring weather seeped through her thin uniform fabric.

As they walked Scorpius began to grow more and more uncomfortable. Sure he licked the terrorize Rose from time to time, but he didn't actually want to spend time with her. To be honest though he liked her fire, he found that she hardly ever used it. From what he often saw of Rose she spent most of her time reading, sleeping or eating. Rose hadn't dated anyone since last year. Scorpius had never seen her sneak out even once or step a toe out of line. It was actually quite boring considering she was a seventeen year old girl with the world at her feet and she chose to live a safe little life. As he watched her fiery hair bounce in her wake, he couldn't help, but feel she was wasting her life. But as he had to now spend the next three weeks with her in purgatory he said nothing.

Roses walked through the sea of people and didn't notice or care that she wasn't sticking with Scorpius. She knew what would happen if she didn't stay close to him, but some how the idea still hadn't become permanent in her mind. It was like she was trying so hard to repress this fact that her mind had acted like it didn't exist at all. But as soon as she went farther away from him then three feet, her body sling shot back towards him, sending two people flying and violently crushing Rose's body onto Scorpius.

"Ugh." Rose groaned.

"This time," Scorpius scowled rubbing where she had elbowed him in the stomach. "It was your fault."

"Oh sod off."

Rising to their feet, they watched each other more carefully to make sure they didn't lose each other again. Once they walked through the Great Hall, they both paused as they reached an impasse.

"I'll make you a deal." Scorpius began in a compromising voice Rose had often heard him use with misbehaving students. "We sit Gryffindor for dinner and Slytherin in the morning."

Rose never wanted to sit at the Slytherin table, but she thought that it would be outright rude for her to refuse. So she sighed. "Fine."

They both moved through the hall and extremely reluctantly sat next to each other at the Gryffindor table across from Charlie, Albus and Blake Wood. As Rose and Scorpius started to fill their plates with food the threesome shared looks. Blake spoke first, her long pale face the picture of confused.

"I'm sorry, are you two doing some kind of friend outreach program?"

"If so," Charlie interjected, her tan skin, making Blake look almost ghostly. "Malfoy, Albus is more than willing to put in some more friend time in, and Rose, you have us. So you really don't even have a good excuse."

Rose snorted at her friends. "Higgins put a spell on us so we can't be further than three feet away from each other."

"As much as I want to hear this, I'm going to be late for Quidditch," Blake said, and then rolled her eyes when Albus gave her a dirty look. "I mean, we are."

Albus rose from his chair, "I'll fill you in Wood."

Charlie snickered darkly, "Great choice of words."

"You have a filthy mind!" Albus called teasingly over his shoulder.

"He has no idea…" Charlie trailed off suggestively.

"Charlie!" Rose laughed throwing a loaf of bread at her. "That's my cousin."

She shrugged her button nose scrunching up unconcerned. "He's not my cousin…Speaking of cousin's, here comes buzz kill."

Scorpius turned to see not the youngest, but definitely the smallest Weasley, rise from the Ravenclaw table and head towards them. Softly, he heard Rose let out a small breath and it amused him that she didn't want to face the daughter of Percy Weasley. Her father had to be the least intimidating person Scorpius Malfoy had ever seen, but as she came closer Scorpius realized that wasn't something he passed onto his daughter.

Having come accustomed to her less than favorite cousin, Rose let go of any resentment she did have to deal with Lucy. If Lucy saw a shred of annoyance from Rose she would instantly feed on it and report it to her. Rose wasn't going to have her entire family get into a fight with the Headmaster because she was stupid enough to fight with Malfoy. So she begrudgedly let go of her anger, and became calm enough to deal with Lucy.

"Rose, Albus has been spreading a horrid rumor that-" Lucy informed Rose flatly.

Rose held up a hand to stop her. "It's true.

"Rosie," Lucy started in her most noble tone, as she fixed her most sensible headband and sat on the other side of Rose. "You can't be serious."

"I'm afraid I am."

Lucy's jaw dropped, "Well...this can't be legal!"

"It's probably not," Rose admitted, "But there's nothing I really can do about it."

"I can go to my father," Lucy declared. "The undersecretary to the minister wouldn't allow you to be forced to be stuck with the likes of-"

"It's fine Luce." Rose cut her off sharply, before she said something too rude to take back.

"Because you know Rose," Charlie started in an extremely dry tone as she pretended to whisper. "If you give in and become friends with him…the death eater's win."

Rose busted out laughing at the mock serious look on Charlie's face, but Scorpius wasn't so amused. "I'm sitting right here, Weasley."

"Yes," Lucy scowled; her large hazel eyes narrowing much like a hawk would eyes a weaker hawk. "I can see that Malfoy."

"Luce, lighten, up." Rose rolled her eyes. "I don't like this situation, trust me, but Higgins was really serious about it. I think he thinks if other houses see us getting along then maybe we will all get along."

"And then," Charlie began with an animated expression, "We will all join hands, and form a peace circle filled with love and happiness. What do you say Luce? You think you're game to lead it? I know how much you love being the top dog."

Lucy gave Charlie a dark look. "As much as I enjoy this conversation, I have to be going."

"Library?" Charlie asked.

"Yes, if you must know. Rose I will see if I can find anything that will help you." Lucy, despite being just over five feet tall gave Scorpius a rather threatening look. "You touch my cousin and I will hurt you."

"Fat chance Weasley." Scorpius replied vaguely.

Once Lucy had strutted away, looking remarkably like her dear father, Charlie turned to Malfoy. "What are you going to do now Malfoy? Your plot to impregnate Rose and take over the world has been thwarted! How could you live with a threat of that size hanging over you're blonde head?"

Rose looked at her best friend and couldn't help, but laugh at her. "You really are enjoying this aren't you?"

Charlie beamed at her as she stood up to leave. "Are you kidding me? This is like the spirit of Christmas with repercussions of Halloween. It's pure magic!"

"What does that even mean?" Scorpius snorted as he watched Charlie leave.

Rose shook her head. "I don't even know."

Rose took a bite of her food and took even breaths until it didn't bother her in the slightest that Scorpius Malfoy, the boy she had taken great pains in the past few years to avoid was sitting right next to her. There were loud discussions about their situation across the hall, but neither of them contributed anything to them. They were both focusing not on the food they were eating, but on where they'd be sleeping. Sure they'd already agreed to sleeping bags, but it still was a very uncomfortable situation. Even when their elbows or legs would graze each other they would jump apart as if they'd been electrocuted.

When the time came to go back to their dorm, they both tensed up and walked back as slowly as humanly possible. Truth be told although they had both slept with other people, they'd never literally done so and even in this technical capacity it still felt like it counted. Scorpius walked in first and paused making Rose almost walk into him.

"Do you need to change? Because I do." He stated.

Rose groaned, "Yeah...Come on."

"I thought boys weren't allowed up these stairs." Scorpius marveled as he followed her up her staircase.

"You're thinking of the house common rooms. Ours are different because we're of age and supposed to be able to get in touch with each other if need be."

"Is that how you've come to know that," He paused, "Or maybe have you had some late night visitors."

Rose opened her door and gave him a dirty look. "Don't you remember Albus busting in my room for my birthday?"

"Oh yeah..."

"Besides, it's in Hogwarts, A History."

Scorpius's eyes traveled around her mildly organized room. "Never read it."

"I'm sure you haven't. Brooding and coming up with sleazy comeback's surely would take up some time." She murmured as she went into her dresser drawer to grab some pajamas.

"You would know, wouldn't you?"

Rose raised her eyebrows. "Ha-ha. Now turn around."

"What for?"

"I'm about to change."

"Oh," A faint blush rose in his cheeks, and he turned around.

Unintentionally this brought a smile to her face. He hadn't even considered teasing her. It was the rare strand of gentlemen nobility that still lived inside of him, but what she found funny was he had blushed, like the idea of a woman changing was worth blushing over. Surely with his and Albus's extra curricular activities with all of their lady friends, he had seen countless girls naked. Why would it bother him in the slightest that she would be changing?

Putting the idea out of her head, she quickly took off her blouse, jumper, tie, knee socks, and shoes. Once she finished she switched out her undergarments, pulled on an over sized t-shirt and some short shorts.

"You can turn around, but I need to go brush my teeth."

"Fine," He shrugged boredly.

* * *

As they entered the bathroom, she promptly tied her hair back off her face, washed her face and brushed her teeth. Malfoy eyed her room in the meantime. Her room wasn't what he'd expected it would be. The room wasn't pristinely clean, she still had some books lying around half-hazardly without a home, but it wasn't as messy as some of his old roommates had been. On her walls, she had pictures and posters. The posters, he was pretty sure, were of locations in Greece and Italy, but what took his interested were her pictures. She had a picture of her chasing Charlie around the grounds, one of her on her cousin James's shoulders when she was about 12, a picture of her entire family in their Christmas Weasley sweaters and a picture of her, Blake, Albus and Charlie by the lake. Though Scorpius had seen that picture in Albus's room he didn't notice until that percise moment that Rose was wearing a bikini. Looking back at her as she flossed her teeth like her grandparent's had taught her, he was a little alarmed that under all of those clothes she had that decent of a body.

Shaking his head of such treacherous thoughts, Malfoy sighed for what must have been the hundredth time that day.

"Okay," Rose grabbed a bag and put a fresh uniform, her tooth paste, toothbrush and some deodorant in the bag.

"What's all that for? We aren't living downstairs you know."

"Do you really want to have to come up here with me in the morning and wait while I get ready?"

Shaking his head, he didn't even bother to answer. They went up to his dorm and instantly started changing. Rose's jaw dropped. "Do you want me to...?" She spluttered.

"It doesn't matter. I'm not getting naked."

Rose stood awkwardly by his bed as he stripped in front of her. At first she looked around his room and smiled at the stack of books he owned, the quidditch magazines lying on his bedside table before her eyes landed on a rather sweet framed picture of him with his mother when he was around 5. His smile was big as his mother held him in her arms. Although he looked almost identical to his father, and looked the polar opposite from his mother Rose could see they had the exact same smile.

"Is this you and your mum?" Rose asked quietly.

Scorpius naturally smirked from years of inherited arrogance, but when his eyes hit the picture of his mother he smiled something Rose had never seen. "Yeah. She was taking me to a carnival."

"You've been to a carnival?" Rose questioned, her eyes careful to not fall on his bare chest.

"I happen love carnival's Weasley," He boasted as he tossed his dirty shirt on his chair and pulled off his pants.

Rose looked away, but couldn't ignore the obnoxiously loud thumping rhythm of her heart. It sounded like it was pulsing in her very ear. Self consciously, she crossed her arms and saw another small picture of Scorpius with Albus. He had no other pictures on his dresser or anywhere else in the room. In her room she had a bunch of pictures of all of her family and friends, but his seemed more selective. He had subtly showed with just two pictures that the most important people in the world to him were Albus and his mother. The thought made Rose swoon slightly, she had never imagined that he would be so obviously sentimental.

Snapping out of it, she reminded herself why she was there in the first place and got some clarity. Obviously it had been a long day and due to her sleepiness she was forgetting herself. After Scorpius grabbed a bag of his own, they headed down the stairs in the same silence two people might share if they were heading to a funeral. Rose pulled out her wand and seconds later two very comfortable looking grey sleeping bags appeared at the foot of their staircases.

In unison they both climbed into them, and zipped up the sides.

"Malfoy?" She asked into the darkness as she hugged the sleeping bag protectively.

"Huh?" He yawned.

"Do you... snore?"

Softly he laughed, "No. Why do you?"

"No."

"Then we should have a problem then."

Despite herself, Rose snuggled into her sleeping bag and said, "Night."

And he chuckled, "Night Weasley.


	3. Take That

"Weasley!" Malfoy shouted throwing a pillow at her face. "Wake up!"

She groaned and let out a string of swears. "What?"

"It's morning, wake up."

Squinting into the blaring sunlight she gave Malfoy a not so polite gesture.

"Very mature."

"MALFOY! IT'S SEVEN IN MORNING!" She roared as she saw his watch.

He didn't seem to understand. "That's when breakfast starts."

"Class doesn't start till nine! I get up at 8."

"Well today you wake up at 7." He told her.

She scowled, "Like hell I am. I'm sleeping for another hour and you are going to leave me alone."

"Wanna-"

"If you're wondering where your wand is," Rose began with a small amount of smugness. "I hid it, in undisclosed location, for exactly this kind of event." She told him as she turned away from the sunshine.

Scorpius took a step back to eye her. She couldn't have stashed his wand far, if she moved farther than three feet he would have known. But still, the fact that she'd been crafty enough to know he would pull something bothered him. He was always an early riser, since when was that a crime?

Trying to hide her smile, Rose did a silent victory cackle. Once he had fallen asleep it had all to easy to crawl over him to get his wand. She just wanted to get the full nights sleep she deserved. It wasn't programmed into her to wake up early and she wasn't going to suddenly start doing whatever he wanted. He was the one that got them into this mess and she thought there wasn't a single reason in the world why she should have to suffer anymore than she already was.

"Weasley, you wouldn't have happened to stash my wand in your sleeping bag, would you?" Scorpius's voice cut through the silence.

Rose gulped as she tried to keep her face still.

"Weasley, I have no problem opening up that sleeping bag with you in and shaking you down like a common criminal."

She scoffed. "Sure you do Malfoy. Now if you'll excuse me-"

Scorpius stooped down and scooped her up. Panicking, she threw her arms around him, clinging to him for dear life. "Scorpius Malfoy!"

"Hand me my wand and I'll put you down."

"Fine! Fine! Just put me down."

"Why are you so scared?" He eyed her, as she squeezed her eyes shut.

"I'm afraid of heights."

Scorpius said, "Weasley, you're up about five feet."

"It's not the actual height! I'm terrified of falling! Put me down!"

Frowning, he lowered her to the ground more carefully then he would have a few moments earlier. Her arms didn't loosen on his neck until he was all the way on the floor. She was petrified and he didn't expect it at all, but it made sense why she was the only Weasley that had never played Quidditch.

Rose let out slow breaths to calm herself down as she concentration on calming down. She was going to be okay. Everything was going to be alright. Her body was on the floor, perfectly in her control. Opening her eyes she glared at Malfoy and chucked his wand at him. If he wanted it so badly then he could have it. Rolling out of her sleeping bag in a huff, she pulled out her tooth brush and tooth paste.

"What are you doing?"

Glowering at him with a mouthful of toothpaste she said, "Are you fucking serious? You just made this big deal about going to breakfast and now that I'm doing what you want you're going to give me shit? Really?"

Raising his hands defensively, he sat down. "Sorry."

"Yeah, you should be."

Scorpius laughed at her as she finished brushing her teeth. Her hair, which was perfectly straightened the day before had frizzed out during the night. In the back of his mind he always knew that she had her mothers hair though he never had gotten the opportunity to see the evidence for it. Now he thought she looked remarkably like a lion with her mane of wild red hair contrasting against her fair skin. Now that he thought about it she acted much like a lion would at being awoken.

Grabbing her bag, Rose took out her clothes and gave Scorpius a look. "Well? Turn around."

"This again."

"Well I'm sorry," She said in a voice that wasn't sorry at all. "But you certainly haven't earned the right to see me in anything less than a full school uniform."

"What merit's that?" Scorpius said, "Solving world hunger? Swimming the Atlantic?"

Rose smacked the back of his head before continuing to pull on her jumper. "Nothing you could ever accomplish."

She had always thought Scorpius was a pain in the ass, but she had no idea how much worse he was in the morning. Though she knew the headmaster was trying to make a point with this, she wished he would have made it a week instead of three. Once she finished changing she tapped him on the shoulder.

"I'm done."

"Fine," He stood up, took of his night shirt and began pulling on his own uniform.

For a moment, she forgot herself. It was only a small few minutes. Her eyes traced the well toned muscles in his back in awe. She knew he was built, but it was always linked to a feeling of disgust. In the haze of the morning she was unable to put that natural connotation on it. Instead she starred at his broad shoulders and gulped down any unfamiliar feelings that came as a side effect to that.

"What classes do you have today?" Malfoy asked interrupting her thoughts and bringing her back to sanity.

"Me?" She croaked, shaking her head. "I have Potions, Charms and Arithmancy."

Scorpius nodded as he tossed on his shirt carelessly and looped on his tie. "That should be fine."

Rose nodded as she slipped her bag over her shoulder, and got her senses back. They both left their common room looking more disorganized than usual, but for the moment they were working together. Being HeadBoy and HeadGirl all year was the only occasions they forced themselves to be civil. Maybe that was Figgins message to them, but either way they were starting to feel the strain and it hadn't even been a day yet.

It was a good thing they had almost all of the same classes. The only classes they didn't share were Arithmancy and Muggle Studies. But fortunately Rose had Arithmancy in his free period and he had Muggle Studies in hers so they decided they would just tag along and do their homework in the opposite persons class. It wasn't at all ideal, but the longer the day went on the more manageable the idea seemed in Scorpius's head. Rose still maintained this was the highest level of hell, but even her annoyance was fading slightly as she began to adapt to their situation.

* * *

At breakfast, they sat at the Slytherin table as promised and it wasn't as bad as Rose imagined it was going to be. Sure it helped that half the house didn't wake up that early. Sleeping on the ground wasn't the most comfortable thing to do despite how practical it had been. A small headache was forming in the back of Rose's neck. Hydrating heavily, Rose was relieved that it soon went away.

"I see this hasn't been lifted yet." Lucy acknowledged hovering cautiously over the Slytherin table like it was poisoned.

"Of course you wake up this early Luce." Rose scoffed into her tea.

Lucy looked unbothered. "It's important to be prepared and punctual for classes. How am i supposed to do that if i just roll out of bed."

Scorpius looked absolutely vindicated at the statement. Rose pointed a threatening finger at him, "Don't even."

"I still think you should complain Rosie." Lucy voiced.

"I heard you yesterday, and I'm not going to." Her worn brown eyes met her cousin's eyes. "I chose to fight Malfoy, I could have walked away. I could have ignored him. I didn't. I chose to let this idiot get to me and that's my fault. As Headgirl I should have been smarter."

Scorpius's light eyebrows furrowed together in astonishment, but he said nothing. He thought Rose would have gone off the handle. He thought she would complain to everyone she came into contact with that this wasn't far and that it was entirely his fault. What he never thought he'd hear was her take responsibility for her actions. Lucy wasn't so easily swayed, she could smell a miscarriage of justice and she wasn't going to rest until she convinced Rose otherwise.

"Yes but three feet? It's practically instructing you to ..." Lucy lowered her voice, "fornicate."

Rose busted out laughing so hard she had to hold onto the table. Finally after calming down she said, "I don't think that was the point Higgin's was after."

"Still."

"Luce, I love you and I appreciate it. I know you're hearts in the right place, but I'm fine. I can handle my own problems. Why don't you go finish your breakfast?"

Lucy sighed. "Fine."

Rose heard Scorpius snickering next to her, she elbowed him unable to keep a smile off her own face.

Before class they both decided to take a detour to use the restroom. Of course neither of them could use the regular bathroom's so they were forced to walk halfway across the castle to get to Moaning Myrtle's bathroom.

"Okay, you go first. I'll sit out here and...wait." Rose offered lamely as she sat down against the stall wall.

"Muffalio," Was the last thing she heard, before buzzing filled her ears and the stall door was shut. The second it did she started shaking with laughter. At first she thought it was because she was tired, but after awhile she couldn't lie anymore. Rose Weasley was laughing because of the situation.

The sound lifted and Scorpius stood looking at her oddly. "What are you laughing at?"

"We have to sit and wait for each other to pee." Rose laughed, her eyes squeezing shut as her shoulder shook. "It's so...ridiculous."

"Well you next." He told her.

Rose stood up and a few minutes later they both stood at the sink. Moaning Myrtle flew in next to them as they were wiping their hands.

"What are you two doing in here? Nobody ever comes in here..."

Rose looked at the girl sympathetically. "Sorry Myrtle, we will be coming here a lot for the next month."

"Really?" Her eyes zeroed in on Scorpius. "You look so much like your father."

Scorpius twitched. "Ugh...Thanks."

Scorpius then grabbed Rose and forced her to leave. He hated Moaning Myrtle, ever since he started at Hogwarts she always went out of her way to say something to him and it made him incredibly uneasy. In his opinion, no ghost should spend so much time on someone they didn't know when they were alive. Of course Rose found in incredibly hilarious and she teased the hell out of him as they walked down the staircase, but her laugh died in her throat as she saw a tall, but extremely thin boy a corridor down. His eyes searched the hall as if he'd been looking for someone, mainly Rose.

"Oh holy Merlin..." Rose grimaced as she grabbed Scorpius and hid behind a tapestry.

"Weasley, what the hell, are we doing?"

Rose groaned as she stood flat against the dusty wall. "It's Zach Wood. He follows me everywhere, giving me flowers, paying me compliments..."

"And you're problem is...?"

"Unlike some," Rose snapped, "I don't like to be blindly stalked."

Scorpius snickered, "Come on Weasley, he just has a little crush-"

"No he's creepy is what he is. He blindly supports the hell out of me, and it's creepy!" She whispered furiously.

"Didn't you just tell me to embrace Myrtle? Why don't you do the same with Zach?"

Rose glared daggers at Malfoy. "If you move-"

"Oy-!"

Rose jumped over and clamped a hand over Scorpius's mouth as she held him down on the wall.

"He's gone now.." Scorpius told her as he smugly pried her off of him. "I'm sure I could still catch him."

Punching him in the shoulder she glowered, "Shut it Malfoy."

"You are abusive." He whinnied holding his arm like it was delicate.

"You're a pansy." She scoffed as they pushed out from behind the tapestry, "I thought men were supposed to be able to handle pain."

Before he could shoot back a snide retort they entered the dungeons, and walked into their first class of the day, Potions. As soon as their potion's master saw them together he did a double take. Professor Rickman even adjusted his glasses, he never expected his star student, Scorpius, to be seen with the student that scraped by, Rose.

"Well, take a seat you two."

They moved into two open seats in the back and got out their supplies. As soon as Rickman began to write down the potion on the board Scorpius's grey eyes locked onto the words, memorizing them. Rose was never naturally skilled at Potion's, she'd inherited her father's trouble with comprehension. She got by, by studying and getting tutored, but it still was odd for her to see Scorpius be so naturally gifted at it. He went to the supply cabinet, got the supplies and went to work without a moments hesitation. Rose started working on their paper as she assumed would be her role, but every now and then she looked over and was startled to see how excited he was to see his success.

"All done." He declared, with a wide grin.

Rose nodded, "I'm almost finished with the report."

Scorpius leaned back in his chair and glanced around the room. On his scan of the room, his eyes landed on Laura Phelps. A very loose Hufflepuff, who he had been snogging once a week for the past few months. Suddenly it occurred to him that he was supposed to meet her that night in the Astronomy tower. His eyes shifted back to Rose, just as her long hair fell into her eyes. Impatiently, she swatted it away as she worked away. Though he knew it was stupid, there was flicker of hope in him that believed his plan could work. So, he pursued it.

"I'll make you a deal Weasley," He began leaning over, "I'll keep you away from Wood, if you do me a favor."

Sensing a trap, Rose narrowed her eyes. "What's the favor Malfoy? Because I'm not doing your laundry for a week."

"Why would I make you do that?" He scoffed.

"You're sick Malfoy. I don't know what you're capable of."

Scorpius rolled his eyes. "Now you're just fishing."

"What do you want Malfoy?"

"Agree to the deal and I'll tell you."

Putting down her quill, she looked at him. "Why would I agree to a deal like that?"

"Because you know that you can trust me enough to not injure or hurt you." He answered with perfect confidence.

"Oh and why do you think I think that?" She snorted.

He leaned a little closer, and Rose instantly tensed at the proximity, but she didn't move, she wanted to see what his next move was. Scorpius's original intention was to just be close enough to whisper, but he didn't realize until he moved that it wasn't necessary. Still he held his confident posture, and talked on like he wasn't in the perfect position to kiss his best mates cousin.

"Because when you changed last night, you told me to turn around."

"What does that prove?"

He smirked, "Why didn't you use magic? How did you know I wouldn't turn, or sneak a peek?"

Rose paused, as his question snuck up on her and rubbed her the wrong way. "Fine."

"Fine?"

"Fine."

Scorpius shrugged in acknowledgement and moved back in his chair. "I have a standing appointment that I need to go to. Is there anyway, you can read or something?"

"Sure...What is it?"

Hours later, Rose was sitting exactly three feet away from the snogging couple on the Astronomy tower steps, as she held a book in her hands. Rose couldn't help it. At first she did read, but after awhile she couldn't even fake it. She was trying to be fair. She really was, but honestly she couldn't take the sound of the girls voice crooning that awful nickname to him. Any girl swooning over Malfoy made Rose laugh, but this was taking the cake. It was too far. So silently she shook with laughter, but when she heard the noises stop she knew Malfoy had realized she was laughing and was furious. He had offered to use the muffalio spell, but Rose turned him down. This was hysterical to her and she had no reason to want to block it out. Scorpius on the other hand felt the complete opposite.

"I'm sorry love," He told her, infuriated. "I can't do this."

"It's never been a problem before." She cooed, her high pitched voice making Rose's skin crawl.

"Well it is now." Scorpius said in a cold voice that made Rose almost feel pity for Laura. "I'll see you around."

Laura pouted, her hearshaped face twisting to look like a lost puppy. "Scorpy!"

"Come on Weasley," Scorpius spat, grabbing her arm and lifting her up easily.

"Going so soon?" Rose asked with a face of unmistakable amusement.

Scorpius didn't even respond, he was so livid. All he wanted was a quick snog. He snogged that mindless twit twice a week, and that was it. And now Rose had taken that from him. He vowed in that moment that as soon as the moment presented itself to him he'd get her back. This was ridiculous. Though this plan was destined to fail, he still was furious that it didn't work out. Rose was perfectly delighted, stuffing her book into her bag, she fought the urge to tease Malfoy, and lost.

"So what are you going to do now? Scorpy?"

Flinching, he stop dead in his tracks and turned, his eyes practically glowing with rage. "Don't-call-me-that."

She knew she should have been scared or at the very least intimidated, but she couldn't bring herself to feel that way. "Is that you're scary Malfoy face?"

"No."

Rose openly laughed, completely unable to hold back. "Good, because that was weak."

"Are you done?"

"Probably."

Checking his watch, he sighed. "Want to get a snack?"

"In the kitchen's? Sure...Scorpy."

As anger took him over Scorpius thought of the perfect way to get her back. She thought she had won, but he knew she went to great lengths to keep her hair looking the way it did. So she probably wouldn't think too kindly if he poured food on it.

Rose tickled the pear on the portrait and greet the hoards of house elves warmly. One brought them each a small bowl of pudding as she knew it was Rose's favorite. Scorpius smirked as she moved to sit next to him. Distracting her by pointing to a house elf down the way, Scorpius seized his opportunity.

Subtly, he scooped up his bowl and held it above her head until it poured all over her head. Originally she was furious. Her whole face lit with a fiery rage as her eyes widened. She knocked the bowl away causing it shatter against the wall. But somewhere in between smacking his laughing figure and pudding dripping in her mouth Rose started to laugh. And as she straddled him she put her hands on her hips, her face full of pudding.

"You think you've won?"

He nodded, with a smile.

"Oh?" She lowered her face down on his pressed uniform, knowing what a clean freak he was and rubbed it all over it. "Take that!"

Instead of being angry, Scorpius just laughed at her until she joined in.


	4. Attempting to Remain Optimistic

Quietly Rose and Scorpius sat at the Slytherin table eating in mutual displeasure. It had been four days, and today was the day they were going to have to shower. They'd done everything they could to get around it, but there was nothing more they could do. Any civility they had was gone at the mere possibility of having to shower near each other. Scorpius was a little testy, but he wasn't as bad as Rose. He had learned to adapt to situations, Rose wasn't as used to change.

"Rose?" Hugo, Rose's fifteen year old brother, asked as he scooted in the seat across from them.

Despite the fact that it was the Slytherin table Hugo made himself perfectly comfortable, which to the discontent of Slytherin house. "Would you kindly tell me how you've gotten yourself in this situation?"

"We had a row, things got out of hand." Rose shrugged as she tried to make it seem like it wasn't beginning to truly drive her insane. "The usual."

Hugo gave Scorpius, who was reading the Daily Prophet a look. "Huh."

"Just two more weeks." She whispered, as she held onto that date with every fiber of her being.

Scorpius corrected her. "Actually two and a half."

"I was rounding down." She scowled at him hatefully wanting nothing more than to snap his scrawny neck. "Some of us," She seethed, "Like to remain optimistic."

"Well some of us like to face reality." He snapped back coolly.

"Oh I'm sorry I ruined your chances of _getting off_ this week." Rose mock apologized, before adding, in a less then quiet tone, "…Maybe it will fall off from lack of use."

Hugo let out a low laugh and stood before they could hex each other. "Well I see you two are getting along swimmingly and don't need me around getting in the way of things. I trust I'll see you Sunday Rose."

"As always," Rose waved him away darkly as she went back to her french toast.

"What's Sunday?" Scorpius questioned.

"Family brunch," Rose said absentmindedly, before swearing. "I forgot about you…I'll have to reschedule it."

"They won't mind?"

"No," She shook her head with a weary smile. "They will most certainly mind, but they'll survive."

Standing up, they tossed their bags over their shoulders and went to class. Today they had to go to Arithmancy, Muggle Studies and then Defense Against the Dark Arts. Rose didn't know how much longer she could take this. Her shoulders and entire back were coated with knots from the nights she slept stiffly on the floor.

In class Rose fought to write down what her teacher was saying, but it was hard. She was going so fast and barely taking time to explain anything. All the numbers were beginning to blur into one giant number that meant absolutely nothing.

"This class is so boring!" Scorpius complained as he rubbed his face. "How do you do this twice a week?"

"I'm a saint! Now shut up!" She groaned rubbing her temples, her voice ragged.

Raising his hands defensively he said, "Merlin, take a pill Weasley."

"I have a headache." She began in a weak voice. "I'm sore all over, just stop okay?"

Rose's face pinched in pain as her face paled. Scorpius paused and felt a wave of guilt consume him as he saw a brief sign of tears breach the rim of her eyes. His grey eyes scanned her face; he saw the deep dark circles under her eyes and frowned. Sure they always played verbal tag, but this was different. He could see it was really actually beginning to get to her, and he knew he was really making it harder on her than he should have. This was his fault in the first place and he really wanted to get through this without making her cry.

"I'm sorry." He scooted closer to her. "I'll stop."

Rose frowned, as she fought to seem like she wasn't as affected as she was. "If you're-"

"I'm not," Scorpius reassured her softly.

Rose didn't know what he was up to, but if this was another one of his tricks she was going to beat him to death with her bare hands. She was exhausted. Arithmancy was stressing her out, classes were stressing her out, this was stressing her out…. everything was stressing her out. She did her best to copy down the notes, but after seeing twenty out of the twenty-three students in the class pass out from boredom she almost followed suit. As soon as class was over, she bolted from class and practically ran to the room of requirement.

As soon as they came through the room's floor turned to carpet, and everything inside was breakable. There were countless pillows, vases and bowls. Rose went to the first vase on the floor and chucked it against the opposite wall.

"I hate this! I hate this! I hate this!" She screamed. "Why did this have to happen?! I can't be alone long enough to piss let alone sleep in a normal bed!"

"I'm sorry." He said in a small voice.

"You're sorry?!" She scoffed. "Now you're sorry?! After years of tormenting me and trying to drive me mad, NOW you have the decency to be sorry?!" Rose raged, before walking up to him. "What do you want from me? What did I ever do to you?" She pushed him in the chest. "Huh?! Huh?!"

He gently, he caught her hands. "I'm sorry."

"Sure you are!" She snarled sarcastically.

"No, look Rose," He held her to stop her from fighting and then stooped to be eye level with her. "I…am…sorry."

Rose didn't believe him just because she needed to; frankly she wasn't that trusting, she believed him for three reasons.

1) The sincerity in his voice, an emotion she thought he was robbed of at birth.

2) The earnestness in his eyes, a ploy he no doubt used to get out of trouble when he was young.

3) But the last and worst reason was that he called her by her first name. He had called her Rose.

Rose stopped fight and glared up at him suspiciously. What was he playing at? Why was he acting like a human being? What was his angle in all of this?

The longer she stood there, staring at him through the few inches that separated them, she felt her resolve start to break. It was a small crackling, but soon she found she didn't hate him at all. She just didn't want to fight with him anymore. This took enough out of her without them going at it all the time. The fake truce was over, she wanted a real truce.

"Look," She started frankly, "I don't have the energy to do this for two and a half weeks. I know we can't help fighting sometimes, but honestly can we stop nitpicking at each other? We've worked together all year, and so far the castle hasn't caught on fire. So I know we have it in us to cooperate. So can you please join me on the side of compromise?"

Scorpius nodded soberly. "Yes."

"You can let go of me now. I'm done breaking things." Rose laughed under her breath.

He nodded and let go of her instantly. "Sorry."

"It's fine," She said, almost laughing at his sheepishness at touching her. Then she checked her watch and let out a low groan. "You have to get to Muggle Studies."

"Weasley," He began returning, to his usual self, mostly. "I can skip Muggle Studies under one condition."

Rose frowned. "What's that?"

A bed appeared out of nowhere behind them. "Can we take a nap?...Not together obviously. But I know we both haven't gotten good sleep in a while, so if we just stay to our own side of the bed we should be fine."

Looking at the bed Rose asked. "Is it 3 feet?"

"It's the room of requirement," Scorpius nodded.

"Then I have absolutely," Rose took off her bag and shoes, dropping them carelessly on the floor. "No problem with this."

"I thought you'd fight me."

Rose shook her head and she slid onto the soft, comforting bedding. "We just agreed to stop fighting, and frankly, I could use the sleep."

In a move that was completely foreign to each other, they both got into the bed and gave each other a good foot of distance. Rose was about to fall asleep, her head was pounding and her body was aching from the hell they were running through. They needed this but they were both taken aback by the fact that it had come to this. Scorpius, always the gentlemen, stayed above the sheets, as Rose slipped down underneath them. For a minute, she wasn't going to say anything, but she felt this tug in her gut, this tug telling her to say something. Finally she did.

"Malfoy, you know, you don't have to sleep above the covers you know."

He looked at her as if he had never seen her before. His grey eyes were wide with confusion. "What?"

She gestured to the bed. "You don't have to sleep above the covers."

"I'm fine," He began awkwardly. "But thanks."

Rose turned over so she wouldn't have to face him. Then after a few minutes of charged tension, they both fell asleep.

* * *

_At first Scorpius was on the Quidditch pitch, in his full Slytherin robes. There was nothing whatsoever odd about this scene. Scorpius had been on the team for six years, and captain for four years. Quidditch was the one thing he could fully throw himself into without being concerned about the consequences. His blond hair ruffled in the wind as he raised his jaw to the skyline. _

_There was no one else on the field, all he saw was the freshly groomed grass breeze in the wind, and he smiled. His smile brightened up his entire face until he saw a silhouette of a person grow next to him. Scorpius turned and saw Rose standing next to him. She grinned at him, and his smile grew until it couldn't stretch any farther._

_Then in a split second a bludger came out of nowhere and knocked Rose clear over. Scorpius frowned, and as he looked at her he saw her crying in pain. The sight itself made his pulse quicken and then as something else came hurling towards her, he threw his body over hers to protect her._

* * *

Feeling a pressure on her arm, Rose stirred in her sleep and was shocked to find Scorpius Malfoy's arms wrapped around her protectively. When they had gone to sleep, they were on two complete different sides of the bed. But clearly in the process of sleep, Rose had flipped over, and Scorpius had scooted closer and put his arms around her.

The gesture was completely unorthodox, and since Scorpius was still sound asleep, completely unintentional. In the haze of first waking up, Rose looked at him in wonder. His pale arms were flexed underneath his school uniform and his eyebrows were furrowed in worry. Though she was in no danger, she thought it was remarkable how resiliently his body had structured itself around her. He was strong. A fact she had known, but never saw in action.

The longer she laid there the more she wondered who he was shielding so vigorously. Her first instinct had been to throw him off, and wake him. But she didn't. Instead she just watched him mutter under his breath and felt him hold her tighter. Eventually, in his arms, she fell back asleep.

Scorpius woke up second; his body jarred him awake giving him no option, but to leave his dreams. When he woke up though, he found that a part of his dreams came with him. The smell of lavender filled him as he looked down at a fast asleep Rose. Her hair was messy, but it framed her face perfectly.

His chest tightened when he realized for three hours he had been unknowingly cuddling with Rose Weasley. The thought alarmed him, and he slowly pulled himself away from her. He was almost completely off of her, when she began to wake up. Her eyelashes fluttered, and then Scorpius felt almost paralyzed by her brown eyes.

"Hi," She inhaled softly.

Chuckling at her reaction, he showed her his watch. "It's time to go."

"Okay," She mumbled, not mentioning or caring that he had his leg over hers when she woke.

They adjusted their uniforms, fixed their disheveled hair, slung their bags over their shoulder and without a word to each other went to class.

"Today," Professor Collins began as they sunk into their seats. "We will go over how to fake the Imperius curse, which isn't common anymore, but was a popular unforgivable curse awhile back."

Rose raised her hand and Professor Collins paused to take her question. "Yes, Ms. Weasley?"

"You know Malfoy and I can't go farther than three feet away from each other right?" She stated as a question, but was more acknowledging a fact.

He frowned and looked at the pair. "I did find it odd that you two have been sitting next to one another, no matter. I will simply ask more of you two."

Scorpius sat up a little straighter. "What do you mean sir?"

"As Headboy and girl, I trust you can handle more responsibility, so I am authorizing you use the spell on each other."

A hush fell over the class, and Rose's stomach tightened as her and Scorpius gave each other a measured look.

"But that spell is illegal professor," Albus interject from a few rows ahead of them with a nervous look.

"Yes," Professor Collins shrugged, "I'm quite aware of that fact Mr. Potter. But I think for today's exercise we will make an exception." He stopped to give them a look." Unless of course Ms. Weasley and Mr. Malfoy feel uncomfortable."

It wasn't a question of whether they could handle fighting the curse. They both were fully capable of doing so; the real question was whether they trusted each other enough. They both trusted the teacher wouldn't misuse the power the spell, but that made perfect sense. Teachers were chosen to help them; they were raised to trust teachers. But they also had been raised to not trust each other.

They were at a fork in the road. They could either choose to believe that this civility and truce was genuine or they could go for an all out war. It was true that neither one of them wanted to fight anymore, but that was still a far cry from truly believing that they both had honest intentions.

Scorpius was a big believer in taking risks; he was a gambler by nature. He didn't believe you got anywhere in life by playing it safe. If Rose was willing than he'd would go through with it. So he looked at her and whispered so no one else could hear.

"It's up to you Weasley."

Rose looked at him as if he was mad. How could he put himself in such a vulnerable position? Didn't he know she could make him do anything with just a flick of her wand? But she felt a competitive edge rush up into her veins, daring her to take this challenge.

She scrunched up her face, and on a rash impulse said, "We're in."

Though the whole class would be subjected to the spell with their aging teacher on the other end none of them seemed to think of that. Instead, they all chatted animatedly at the prospect of seeing the two leaders of the school for a few moments completely control one another. Even they had to admit that it was an interesting prospect, but as they made their way to the front of the room, both of their hands began to sweat.

"Malfoy," Rose said clearly, and steadily. "You go first."

If he was surprised by this he didn't look it. Instead, he smirked and said, "Ready, Weasley?"

She didn't have the voice, and so she nodded.

Rose was tall. She was five foot nine, with long red hair, fair skin, a handful of freckles and a slender body. But in that moment, when all of the goosebumps came alive on her arm, she felt like the shortest woman in the world. Her brown eyes were wide with fear, but she said nothing. She closed her eyes and then suddenly felt a tingling expression. And she heard a familiar voice fill her head.

Scorpius wondered what he should make Rose do. For years he toyed with her, but after the day they had, he didn't want to make her do anything. But as his classmates took bets on just how cruel he would be to her, he frowned. Had he really been the man they expected him to be all these years? This hateful, thing that would make her, by one man thought, 'Dance naked around the room singing the top three greatest hits.'

As he looked at her delicate face, he wanted to hurt McLaggen for even suggesting he would do such a thing. Instead, Scorpius set his face, raised his wand and said, "Imperio."

Softly, he told her to dance. It was simple, but actually harder, because it was something she wouldn't question as much as doing a back flip or singing naked. Rose stopped and thought about it for a second, her hips swayed for a moment, just a brief second before she forced her body to be perfectly still. Then after a few minutes of her not moving Scorpius took the spell off of her.

"You're turn Malfoy," Rose told him raising her own wand.

"Just don't make me strip," Scorpius teased in a voice only she could hear.

Snorting, she smiled and said, "Imperio."

Scorpius stood and waited for her voice to invade his thoughts. He didn't have to wait long. Soon enough her voice whispered for him to do push ups. Once again the task was harder than say asking him to run around screaming, because this activity wasn't hard for him. But Scorpius fought it, he didn't even twitch. He was raised to be able to with stand this curse, so it was nothing for him.

A few seconds later he felt the tingling expression fade and everything became clearer as if he was temporarily in a slight fog. In front of him Rose offered him a grin, which for the first time in their relationship, he returned.


	5. Flexibility

"Okay," Rose began bravely, "We-can-do-this."

Scorpius laughed as he stood at the edge of her shower in nothing, but his swim trunks. "I love, that you really need to give a pep talk at this moment."

"Malfoy, you have showered with hundreds of women. This is second nature to you. I have not, give me a break."

"I have never done this," He gestured to their baiting suits. "This is completely new."

Rose crossed her arms over her chest. She wore one of her many bikinis, and was otherwise completely uncovered. At the sight Scorpius was having a hard time not teasing her, but as per their new agreement, he reframed.

"So, come on," Scorpius opened the door and gave her a straight face. "Let's get on with it."

"Oh-kay." She breathed nervously walking in first.

Her stomach was a bundle of nerves as she stepped into the three-foot wide shower. Scorpius followed and he shut the door. His Adam's apple tightened against his throat and he turned the knob. First a jet of cold water sprayed Rose's bare skin. Squealing she ducked out of the way and hid behind Scorpius as she swatted his back.

"You arse!" She flattened herself against the wall.

He laughed. "I didn't do it on purpose! You know it takes a minute."

"Yeah yeah." She scoffed, still hiding behind his bare back.

"Okay," Scorpius put out his hand to test it. "It's fine now."

"I'll be the judge of that."

Rose stepped out carefully and then braced herself before letting the water hit her. When she did, she let out a relieved breath. She stepped forward closing her eyes and letting the water soak into her skin. For a moment she forgot he was there, she just relaxed. Scorpius of course did not relax at all.

His whole body tensed as he watched her. She couldn't hear, but his breathing had grown heavier. Then, before he could get too caught up in what he was feeling, he turned around and shook himself. He was acting ridiculous. Was he some hormonal fifteen-year-old boy? He needed to control himself. This was Weasley, not some girl. It was a girl that had very clear consequences attached onto her like a warning label. He needed to get a hold of himself.

She noticed nothing different. Rose shampooed her hair, washed her skin, and when she was finished, she soaked for a few extra minutes. Then she turned and saw Scorpius facing the opposite direction. Laughing under her breath, she grabbed his shampoo, moved up on her tiptoes and poured some on his head. As he flinched and turned around, she giggled at the expression on his face.

"Don't you need to wash your blond hair to keep its ever eternal shine?"

"Well," He mused, "You seemed to know a lot about my hair. So," He bent over, "You can shampoo it."

Rose took a second and then out of pure curiosity took the challenge. She stepped forward, and put her hands through his soapy hair. After about a minute she had thoroughly washed his hair, but somewhere in the process she had begun to massage his sculpt. His arms stretched out and held onto the railing on either side of the shower. Once she finished, she soaped up all of his hair into a very fashionable Mohawk.

"All set." She grinned taking a step back. "Now you can either keep this new hair due…which I fully support or you can rinse it out."

Scorpius made a pose, hollowing out his cheekbones and setting his square jaw. "You think."

Rose busted over laughing, she covered the sides of her face with her hands. "I can't believe you just did that!"

"What because I'm not the great bore, you imagined me to be?" He questioned.

"I suppose."

Scorpius gently pushed her aside so he could rinse out his hair.

Now Rose watched him, as his blonde hair darkened in the water. He took only a few short minutes to wash up and then he turned off the shower. Drenched Scorpius walked out first and grabbed him towels. Tossing Rose one, he dried his hair and wiped away any remaining water off of him. Rose did the same and then she shivered.

"Come on Malfoy! I'm freezing!"

"Alright, alright!" He put an arm around her shoulders, and guided her back into her room. "You change first."

Rose switched out of her swim suit and into her underwear as she did she wondered why Scorpius never so much as tried to sneak a peak of her while she did this. It wasn't that she didn't appreciate the gesture, she did. Boys were always trying to see Rose Weasley naked. It wasn't personal. It was just because of her name, because of who she was related to. But she had never seen Scorpius's eyes wander. When she looked at him, his eyes were either exactly on hers or facing the opposite direction. Scorpius was always perfectly polite about it, which struck her as odd, since he was supposed to have bedded hundreds of women, and yet he had not made a single indecent proposal to her.

It wasn't a curiosity made of insecurity. Rose knew her looks were at the very least passable so that wasn't it. It was more she was beginning to question Scorpius's character. For years she had seen him as this vile creature that her cousin had stupidly befriended. But the longer she was forced to be around him the more she saw that he wasn't quite what she expected him to be.

"Alright," She said as she pulled on her shorts and sweatshirt. "I'm all good."

Then she followed suit to turn around. It took only a few seconds for her to realize that for a few minutes every day she and Scorpius were in the same room, alone, fully naked. Shaking with laughter she rubbed her eyes. She must have been going mad. All of this must have been draining her of her common sense.

Scorpius dressed slowly. It wasn't on purpose. Before it would have been because he liked to keep Rose waiting. Now he had a hard time distinguishing between how they used to act towards each other and how they acted now. It was a blurry confusing difference that made him feel uneasy. He always had a small thought in the back of his head that even if he was nice to Rose they could never be friends. That his father had been right, she was trouble, and in the end they were just too different to be anywhere near each other. But right now he was beginning to question himself. Was he being an idiot for deliberately pushing her away all these years?

Walking down the stairs to their respective sleeping bags they both thought it would just be simpler if they just shared a bed like they did earlier in the day. But neither of them had the nerve to say so. So they both crawled into their sleeping bags and said not a single word to each other.

As Scorpius drifted off to sleep he couldn't help but wish he had said something about the bed. It wasn't because the floor stiffened his back, but because he wondered what would have happened if he had slept under the covers earlier.

"WAKE UP WAKE UP!" An annoying familiar voice called above them, before blowing a whistle.

Scorpius moved first. He was on his feet in an instant and he let out a furious breath when he saw it was smirking Albus Potter.

"Come on mate!" Albus beamed, "Up up! We have big plans for today. Or have you forgotten?"

"We really need to change the password." Scorpius told Rose with a groan as he rubbed his sleepy face.

Rose glared up at her favorite cousin. "Al, it's five o'clock in the morning….WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING HERE?!"

"Calm down Rosie." He told her with a smirk. "We are going for a little field trip."

"No, we," She gestured to her and Scorpius, "Are going back to sleep and you," She pointed at him threateningly. "Are going far far away."

Albus gave her his most persuasive look, which at this time of day did absolutely nothing. "Come on Rose. Scorp made a promise, and now you both have to keep it."

"What promise?" Rose huffed pushing herself up to a sitting position, her hair frizzing out.

"Ugh," Scorpius scoffed and then after sharing a look with Albus, he dropped to a knee. "Look, I did promise him. So I'll make you a deal, after breakfast we can study in the library all day."

She gave him a curious look.

"I know you want to finish your Transfiguration essay." He reasoned.

"Fine." She sent Albus a glare, "But I'm still livid with you."

"Aren't always a little bit mad at somebody?"

Rose viciously threw her pillow at Albus before changing into some jeans and quickly brushing her teeth. She didn't know where they were going or why, but as soon as she fully woke up she was interested to see what they would plan that would be so early in the morning.

"Rose, here's the drill," Albus told him merrily. "Scorpius and I are going to do a bit of magic, while you take a nap."

Narrowing her eyes, "You're a prat Albus. Why won't you just tell me what's going on?"

"Because, favorite cousin it has nothing to do with you."

"That was true," She growled, "Until you dragged me out of bed."

Scorpius said, "Al, can't we do this in two weeks, when she and I are separated?"

"No time mate." Albus clapped a hand on Scorpius's shoulder as he walked them out of the castle and onto the grounds. "By the time they pull you two part we will be neck deep in N.E.W.T's."

Scorpius let out a sigh, but didn't argue with him. Instead he sleepily followed him out to the edge of the forbidden forest where students would be able to see them. When they stopped Rose frowned.

"So, what now?"

"Now," Albus handed her a blindfold. "You sit on that log like a good girl, while we talk."

She could have slapped her cousin. "Al, I know it's early in the morning so you feel superior to me. But if you could take the sexism down about eighty notches that would be _fantastic._"

"Look Rose, we have to do this, and it's a secret so you can't have any part in it. So can you please cooperate?"

"If you stop being a complete and total prat about it."

"Fine," Albus gave her an apologetic smile, "I'm sorry for being a prat."

Rose sat down on the log and took the blindfold. "Just don't take too long."

"Thanks Weasley," Scorpius said before whispering, "Muffalio."

Rose didn't know how long she sat there. It must have been awhile because she began to nod of on the side of a tree. Large, calloused hands dropped to her shoulders before taking her blindfold. Her tired eyes focused on Scorpius, who was only inches away from her face.

"Are you done?"

"Yes," He held out his hand to help her up. "Come on."

Rose took his hand and let him help her up without question. Albus watched the scene with great interest, as he had never seen them work together so…naturally. Wiping the sweat off his forehead, Albus pushed back his dark bangs and walked behind them. Quickly Scorpius dropped Rose's slender hand.

"Food," Rose grunted as they walked forward.

Scorpius eyed the darkened sky and he got an idea. "Breakfast won't be ready yet, Al what do you say about a picnic."

Al smirked eying the pair. "That sounds lovely mate."

Twenty minutes later, the three of them sat on the hill over looking the black lake with plates full of food. Albus sat beside them and examined the Headmaster's work. He had managed in a week, to make the two most stubborn people learn to not only tolerate one another, but also willingly get along. The sight was startling. For years he'd hoped his two best friends would put their differences aside and now as Rose wordlessly gave Scorpius her bacon, and he gave her his toast, he found that they had.

"So I want to snog Amy," Albus stated boldly to Scorpius, "But she's a little shy, so I haven't the faintest idea how that would go over."

"Well you know what I would do." Scorpius reasoned as he laid back on his forearms.

"I would love to hear the answer to that." Rose pipped up.

Albus answered oh-so knowingly, "He would ask if he could kiss her to see her initial response, whether her face looks disgusted or not, and then before she could verbally answer he would go for the kill."

Roses eyes widened in fear as she looked at Scorpius with pure terror. "You'd kill her?!"

"No," Scorpius scoffed, laughing at her face. "I'd snog her…Why would I kill her?"

"I don't know, you two dragged me out here in the middle of the morning, I don't know what you're doing or whispering about half the time. Is it really that crazy that I might think you two are capable of murder?!" She wondered aloud.

Scorpius and Albus looked at each other and shrugged, "No," They said in unison, "I suppose not."

"OOH look!" Rose pointed to the sunrise. She hugged her knees to her chest and then added softly. "I've never watched a sunset before."

"Yes you have," Albus snorted, "Remember every summer you, James, Lily, Hugo and I used to stay up all night to watch the sunset?"

Smacking her cousin she said. "No, I remember falling asleep on James, and him carrying me back to the summer cottage while I slept on."

"Oh yes, I forgot." His voice became teasing, "I tried to carry you but you were far too heavy."

"You need to stop calling me heavy, it might start to affect my self esteem." Rose joked as she bit into her toast.

Albus nudged her making her giggle a little. "I'm sure I could lift you now."

"I don't know." Scorpius smirked, "She's pretty heavy and you're pretty weak mate."

Both Albus and Rose smack the side of Scorpius's arms. He grimaced and glared at them both.

"You two have hands like irons!" He complained.

"Pansy," Rose and Albus snickered at the same time.

Albus moved to stand up, taking the plates with him. "I must be going, I have many important things to accomplish today."

"Oh yes," Rose mocked, "Because being you is sooo important."

"I am the great son of Harry Potter." Albus said as he puffed out his chest. "And now, I must prove it!"

As Albus strutted away Rose and Scorpius and watched him head into the castle with amusement.

"How much is it killing you to restrain yourself from cursing him?" Scorpius asked, not looking at her.

"Fighting-every-impulse-in-my-body." She snickered.

"We better head back too, unless you want to stay looking like that." He added snidely.

Smacking his arm she rolled her eyes and moved up to stand. "Like you look any better."

"Actually," He smirked, "I do."

"Whatever," She rolled her eyes, "Just because you snog dozen's of women a week doesn't mean the rest of us think you're gorgeous."

He let out a low laugh. "Dozens?"

"Oh I'm sorry," She put a hand to her chest as they entered the castle. "Have I miss counted? Is it up to the hundreds yet?"

"I love your assumptions of me."

Rose scoffed, "It's not like you ever deny any of them."

"Well maybe I like to let others make their own decisions on me." He mused aloud.

As they walked up to the Head's quarters Rose thought about this statement. It seemed so odd to her that a Malfoy would say such a thing. Of course she had never met either of his parent's, but her general idea of them was that their reputation meant everything to them. And how could he of all people say that?

* * *

They changed into fresh t-shirt and jeans and as promised they went to the library. Scorpius pulled out his own work and began to go through it, as Rose did with hers. They weren't there for a half hour when Lily Potter arrived. Her face was red with tears, as she quietly ran over to Rose, her hair flying.

"Rose...I feel like an idiot."

Scorpius tried to turn away to not intrude on Rose's conversation with her little cousin, but out of the corner of his eye he saw Rose reach forward and smile at her.

"Why?"

"Because I just saw Adam…snogging Rachel Hewitt."

"Explain to me exactly why you feel like an idiot." Rose asked her reasonably.

"I snogged him for weeks...and made a complete arse out of myself and-"

Rose cut her off. "Did you love him?"

"No..."

"And were you looking for a serious commitment?"

Lily's shook her head, her red hair, much like Rose's, swayed. "Then why do you care what you look like? All that matters is that you had a good time. You're focusing on the wrong part; you're focusing on the ending when you should be focusing on the fun parts, the reason why you did it in the first place. If it's not a relationship you shouldn't take it this seriously."

"..._Am I an idiot?"_

"No," Rose laughed kindly, "He's just an ass, and that's okay. You know why? Because he never mattered anyway. You were there to have a good time and you had it. That's all that matters. All the rest of it is trivial details."

Lily's wet eyes looked up at Rose with a watery smile. "I guess you're right..."

"No, you know I'm right." Rose boasted. "I'm world renown for being right."

"How did you get so smart?"

Rose snorted with an arrogant smirk, "Celibacy."

"But I've never..." Lily spluttered in confusion.

"No, I'm talking about having it, and then after everything's said and done staying away from all of it." Rose explained. "See I've had boyfriends, and flings. I've gone through all the phases. So although I'm sure I'll fall in love again someday and do the whole thing over again, right now I don't really need it. So therefore I can give you consul."

Lily wiped her face with a laugh. "What happens when you do fall in love again?"

"I drop the few IQ points I've gained in the past year and go back to doing stupid things because I'm foolishly in love." Rose looked unconcerned. "It's the way of the world. I suppose."

"I wish we could have both." Lily sighed wistfully.

Rose shook her head in disagreement. "Where would be the fun in that? We humans need to be impulsive, and crazy and do things we would never do normally because we are so infatuated with another person. That's what makes us alive."

"If you ever write a book that should be in there somewhere." Lily laughed.

"I'll see if I can slip it in, but I don't know if it will fit." Rose teased her, "I mean I have a lot of inspirational and wise things to say."

Scorpius snorted loudly unable to help himself.

Rose threw a quill at him. "_Git._.." She then turned back to Lily, "Anyway, you should get going. Remember, only the good times okay?"

"Okay, thanks Ro."

"Anytime."

"Interesting advice." Scorpius commented as Lily disappeared.

"If she loved him it would be different," Rose told him. "But she didn't so why should she get all worked up about it?"

"I agree with you. I just thought you'd be out for blood."

"Well, he's an idiot," Rose laughed under her breath. "He's not worth her time, but if it's only her pride that's hurt it's better to just ride it out."

Scorpius looked at her for a moment as if he was trying to figure her out, but he quickly nodded. "I agree."

"What? Is it shocking that I would know something about relationships?"

"No...You just always surprise me." He told her honestly.

Rose blinked, "In a good way...?"

"You could say that."

"You better watch it Malfoy. That sounded dangerously close to a compliment." Rose said as she went back to her book.

Scorpius watched her read for a moment, before going back to his own, an almost invisible smile playing on his lips.

* * *

Later on in the day, Rose and Scorpius were sitting in the great hall. He was talking to Albus quietly about something no one, but them could hear. Scorpius bent towards the table, his blonde hair falling in his eyes as Albus gestured something with his hands.

Rose was shifted the opposite way, talking to her best friend Charlie about the upcoming match between Ravenclaw and Gryffindor. They weren't particularly talking about Quidditch though.

"Okay, but if I'm trapped on a desert island," Rose said logically. "I wouldn't want to be stuck with the Gryffindor Quidditch team. They are either related to me or complete idiots."

Charlie scoffed, her long wavy dark hair almost falling in Rose's food, "But have you seen the bodies on our team? Talk about _re-pro-duction_."

"I'd still rather go with Ravenclaw," Rose shook her head. "You could at least have a conversation with them."

"But think about that _bone structure_," She muttered cheekily. "My children would all be so beautiful."

"Beautiful and thick." Rose laughed heartedly.

"Much like you Weasley," Megan Nott sneered as she walked by. "Minus the beauty."

Rose scoffed sarcastically, "Wow Nott, you really stuck that one in deep. How am I ever going to get over that one?"

Megan Nott spun on her heel, her silver blonder hair flying in her wake. She stooped over Rose, and grabbed a cupcake off the table and smashed it in her face.

"Oh…_I'm so sorry_. I wanted that for myself, but it does look better on you." Wiping the crumbs off of her hands, sprinkling them on Rose her sneer grew. "Waste of calories anyway."

"What-a-bitch." Charlie growled in astonishment.

"It's alright," Rose grinned so hard her face hurt. "I will get her back."

"Rose," Charlie snorted loudly, her whole face full of laughter. "You still have cupcake on your face."

"Yes," Rose grabbed a napkin and began swiping her face. "Right."


	6. Dare Day

"I can't believe you two have survived a week and a half being stuck together." Blake acknowledged, her bright eyes showing a mixture of disgust and admiration.

Rose shrugged, "We got used it. Besides we're half way through it now."

"Exactly," Scorpius grinned at her encouragingly. "And soon we will be over this, and I will be sitting back over there."

Charlie eyed the table he was gesturing to in amusement. Everyone at the table, so carelessly clad in silver and green, looked so constantly depressed that Charlie would hardly call it a victory to switch over to such a table. Never one to keep her thoughts to herself, Charlie opened her mouth to say this to Malfoy when she paused. Ordinarily one to act purely on the brush of her impulses, Charlie never paused. But she looked at her best friend in the world and noticed that something was different. She couldn't put her finger on what it was.

"What are you two doing today?" Charlie asked finally.

"Um, …" Rose paused and glanced at Scorpius. "I guess class, library…and then we have rounds later."

Scorpius eyed Charlie. "Why, what do you have in mind?"

"Well it is…Dare Day." Charlie began in a low mischievous voice, her dark eyes beaming with excitement.

Rose looked confused for a moment, before a wild smirk popped onto her lips. "No! How could I have forgotten?"

"You've been a bit busy. It's not surprising, but are you excited?"

"Of course!" Rose giggled with excitement. " What are you going to do today?"

"Definitely option 2. How about you?"

Rose gasped, "I just don't know! There are so many options!"

"Pick a team Roro." Charlie said in a singsong voice as she leaned forward.

"I pick Option 1."

"Interesting. You usually go for three, feeling bold today?" Charlie asked cryptically.

"I'm in the mood for a challenge."

Scorpius put down his fork and looked at them. "Are you two going to tell me what's going on or not?"

"It's so much funnier if we show you." Rose assured him with a grin. "Charlie you may go first."

Charlie's sleek dark hair fell to the front of her Gryffindor robes and she pushed herself up to her feet. Her white smile gleamed against her tan skin, as she bounced down the table over to Rose's cousin Albus.

"Hey Charlie," Albus said, glancing at her briefly before going back to his paper.

Without another word, Charlie inhaled sharply, pushed the Daily Prophet away from his hand and planted him with a kiss. It wasn't just any old kiss either; it was a grab-by-the-of-the-neck, straddle-his-lap, and made-him-feel-in-his-toes kind of kiss.

Rose started shaking with laughter as her best friend got up off her cousin, and left the Great Hall without another word to anyone.

Scorpius looked in awe, and then looked at Rose. "Is…that what you're going to do?"

"No," She snorted, "I only did that dare once and it _DID-NOT_ work out."

"What happened?"

Rose blushed. "He didn't want to kiss me."

"Ooh…_ouch_." Scorpius grimaced with a sympathetic laugh.

"Yeah it sucks, but what the hell. You only live once right? Might as well live with no regrets right? If I never kissed him I might have never been able to get over him and what's the point in wasting time?"

Scorpius paused and looked at her. Before he knew it he was smiling. He knew she was smart, but sometimes it still surprised him. "So what are the other options?"

"For Dare Day?" She asked, "Option 2 is walk around with your underwear outside of your clothes. Option 3 is make random noises and pretend it wasn't you-"

"I remember you doing that!" Scorpius laughed, "I thought I was going barking mad!"

"That's kind of the point. We do little things that aren't technically against any rules, but still toe the line and in process drive everyone around us just a tad bit insane."

"I suppose your parents don't know you do this." He mused as he finished off his coffee.

Rose shrugged, "I wouldn't stop if they did. You're parents are supposed to stop you from ruining your life not making it fun."

Laughing, Scorpius rose to his feet and helped Rose get to hers. "You are ridiculous."

"You haven't seen anything yet." She smirked up at him nudging him teasingly.

Scorpius was about to ask what she meant when they left the Great Hall. But he didn't even have to wait. Apparently the dare Rose chose to do for the day was something that was extremely subtle, but also entirely hysterical.

She would walk up behind someone, while still making sure she wasn't walking too far away from Scorpius and then she would proceed to dance around them. The goal, he learned after her fifth turn of doing so, was to do it as long as possible without getting caught. The sight nearly brought him to a fit, he was doubling over he was laughing so hard. It was impossible to imagine her little body inches, even centimeters, away from other people doing every type of dance imaginable at them, but she did and she was.

A couple of times he swore she was going to get caught, as she almost grinded on her fellow students and even teachers, but as soon as they'd turn, Rose would either move with them or walk away like nothing had happened.

He'd always thought Rose was so stuck up. Whenever he saw her she always was reading or studying, but as she dropped it low behind Professor McCain he saw that she was anything but.

Rose fixed her collar and asked him with a beaming smile. "Ready for Charms?"

"You're mad." He laughed, putting a hand on her shoulder. "You are completely off your rocker."

She shrugged unphased by his assessment. "I prefer the term …cool."

"I'm sure you do."

* * *

Walking into class, Scorpius and Rose moved to sit towards the back. They were laughing amongst themselves about Rose's dance moves.

"How did you two come up with this idea anyway?"

Rose got out her books and shrugged with an easy smirk. "I don't know… One day we were just sitting around bored and we kept thinking of funny things we could do to liven the evening up. So we made a list and promised that every month for one day we would chose an item on the list and do it."

Scorpius gestured to Albus, who had just walked in, blushing from head to toe. "He looks pretty out of it."

"Charlie's always liked him. He's just a blind idiot."

"How could he have known?" He wanted to know.

Rose asked, "Well how do you know if a girl likes you? I mean you've been around the Quidditch pitch a few times right?"

Rolling his eyes, he said, "Not as much as you might think."

Rose relaxed back in her chair with a thoughtful expression. "Don't you snog a new girl every week or some thing like that?"

"I do love the Hogwarts rumor mill." He laughed dryly.

"Are you trying to say it's not true? Because I did witness one of your less than honorable endeavors..."

"I told you not to bring that up." He shot at her darkly, trying, but failing, to get mad at her. "But back to your earlier question…You can just... tell."

Rose shook her head, a bemused smile plastered on her face as she played with the perfectly straightened ends of her hair. "I guess it's just easier for you."

"How is it easier for me?" He scoffed.

She was saved from answering by the teacher's entrance, but as their professor introduced the spell they were mastering that day, her face began to flush. Of course Scorpius didn't notice. He was immersed in his notes. Rose looked at him and saw his soft, elegant blonde hair fall into his face as he worked. His wide steel eyes were squinted in concentration as he made sure to soak in every piece of information he could.

Rose shook herself out of her trance and began to write her own notes. But the second she did, Scorpius paused writing. His hand cramped up from writing, so he stretched it out for a moment to give it a break. When he did, he glanced over for a second. He didn't mean to look at Rose. It had become a reflex. At first it was to make sure he wasn't walking too far away from her so they wouldn't fly into each other. But now he wasn't aware of it anymore. Somewhere in the past week he had come accustomed to looking after her. It wasn't intentional. But all the same it was a permanent habit now. Scorpius couldn't stop now if he tried.

He watched as the sunlight hit her hair, making the orange and red fibers of her hair beam against her fair skin. Though she didn't seem to be aware of it, Rose was repeating back everything the professor was saying in a low mutter. What amused him most was he knew she didn't know she was doing it, which made it that much …cuter. Scorpius went back to writing his own notes, but he couldn't keep the smile off his face at the sound of her murmuring.

After two Charms and a rather boring class of Herbology, Scorpius and Rose headed into the library. They had two hours or so before dinner so they had plenty of time to get the books Rose needed and finish their Transfiguration papers in a timely fashion.

"So what do you want to do when you leave Hogwarts?" Scorpius asked idly as he leaned against the nearest bookshelf.

"I want to write a travel column for the Daily Prophet." Rose answered excitedly.

His eyes widened in surprise. "Really?"

"Weren't expecting that were you?" She smirked as she added another book to her stack.

"I thought your family hated the prophet."

Rose nodded, "Oh no they do. But I really don't care. I'm not going to be writing gossip. I'm going to be writing actual news and getting other people's stories out there."

"You like to travel?"

"Whose idea do you think backpacking through Europe was?"

Scorpius halted in surprise, his jaw dropping. "I thought it was Albus's idea."

"Oh no it wasn't." She laughed at the memory of it. "I had to bully him for weeks to even get him on board and then I had to sell the idea to my parents which wasn't easy in the slightest, but my aunt always says if you've got enough nerve you can do anything."

"So you bullied him eh?" He teased her, nudging her gently.

"Um, after seeing all those pictures of the girls Albus snogged on our travels do you really think I let him have a bad time?"

Scorpius laughed under his breath. "No, I suppose not."

"It was great though. We were able to see a million different things I've always wanted to see. And things I never dreamed I'd be able to. It was really exciting." Rose's entire face lit up as she talked and Scorpius couldn't help, but smile with her.

"My parent's would never let me do that."

Rose eyed him. "How would you know? Have you ever asked?"

"…No, I guess I haven't."

"Then there's your problem." She told him bluntly. "How can you ever know how far to push your parent's, and how much you can actually do if you never test you're limits?"

Scorpius stared at her, completely taken aback. He knew that his parents would say no they were the type to be against any kind of non-traditional behavior. But why did he never bother to even try? What was the risk in asking? Rose was right he had never tested his limits. He'd hardly ever stepped even a toe out of line with them. Why not? He did want to travel. He did want to try things, but he never thought it would work so he never bothered.

"What?" Rose blinked pulling him back out of his thoughts.

"Nothing. What book are you looking for?" He scratched the back of his neck as he changed the subject.

"Something on Animagus's. I'm doing a report on them, and I have to cite a book in my sources."

He grabbed the book she was looking for and handed it too her. "Here."

"How did you know where it was?" She asked curiously knowing she could have been referring to a dozen books.

"I've read it."

Rose glanced at him curiously, "You have?"

"I was thinking of turning into one." He admitted, his voice lowering as he looked cautiously around to make sure no one was listening. "Al and I are trying to anyway."

"Is that what you two have been up to? Are you going to register?" Rose whispered, with a devious glint in her eye.

He shrugged, "We want to see if we can do it first."

"Well keep me posted." She told him. "I'd love to know what animals you two turn into to."

"You aren't going to…tell are you?" He whispered putting a hand on her shoulder.

Rose snorted. "I may have been a prefect, and be HeadGirl, but I'm not going to tell about something you haven't even accomplished yet."

"You think we can do it?"

"I wouldn't be surprised if you could. You both get the highest marks in transfiguration after all." She told him with an encouraging smile.

For a second more his hand remained on her shoulder. His steel eyes almost looked blue in the short distance between them. And Rose's breath began to slow as she looked up at him. There were a few people sitting by the tables by the window, and a couple was laughing a few bookshelves down. The noise around them was perfectly still. Without thinking about it, Rose's hand moved up to hold onto the hand he had on her shoulder.

His other hand dropped to her left shoulder, and they both turned into each other. Not touching, but only a few precious inches a part.

Scorpius didn't know why he told her that he was trying to be an animagus. He and Albus had agreed that it would be best not to tell anyone. But somehow when he was around her…things just slipped out. Things he never shared with anyone. Mostly because he didn't care to share them with anyone, but also because no one had ever asked. Rose always asked. She always wanted to know more about everything. But lately he'd been wanting to know more and more about her.

Rose was about to lean forward. She was about to kiss him, when she came to her senses. What was she doing? This was Scorpius Malfoy! She couldn't believe what she was doing. But instead of making it awkward or hurting his feelings, she decided to just wrap her arms around his waist and hug him.

"What are you doing?" He laughed, completely and entirely thrown off, as he hugged her back stiffly.

"First of all," She began, by passing any embarrassed tension between them. "You really suck at this."

Scorpius backed away, "What?!"

"You suck at hugging!" She told him.

"I'm exceptional at everything." He dismissed this claim. "Do you have all your books?"

Rose and Scorpius left the aisle of the library and dropped the subject, but both of them were quite startled by the course of the conversation. Scorpius had just asked the question out of pure curiosity. He had been expecting she'd have some big ministry job like most of her family did, but to go to work for the enemy like she was attempting to do was bold. And yet she showed not an ounce of fear. She carelessly shrugged off her family's dislike of her career path and went down it anyway. Something he couldn't help, but admire.

Feeling similarly Rose found it kind of adorable that instead of shagging girls and getting tossed like she'd imagined Albus and Scorpius were doing, they were trying to actually take their unnatural talents to the next level. They were doing something that touched on her thirst for learning and made Scorpius's grades and intelligence match up with his personality better than it previously had.

Leaving the library, Scorpius stepped forward and took half of Roses's books. She gave him a strange look. "What are you doing?"

"If I don't grab these, you'll topple over and then we'll topple over."

"Oh…okay."

"Don't worry," He smirked, "I'm not trying to be noble."

She smiled, "Not quite your style eh?"

"Not so much."

Scorpius had this nagging feeling tugging at the back of his gut, but he didn't understand what it was. All through dinner, and all through rounds he was silent as he tried to absently figure out what was bothering him. He couldn't put his finger on what it could be for the longest time.

That night, as he was about to fall down into his sleeping bag to fall asleep, he looked at Rose for a minute. She was already sound asleep, her red hair sprawled out across her pillows as she made little murmurs of indecipherable noise. It was then that a feeling rushed up into his chest. It was then he realized that the feeling he felt and had been feeling ever since they left the library was disappointment, and it was because she hugged him. Scorpius didn't understand what he wanted her to do instead, but it unnerved him how his feelings had swiftly changed. A week earlier he would have flinched if she even touched him, and now …_everything was different_.


	7. Mamihlapinatapei

When Professor Higgins had said that Scorpius and Rose coming together would be good for the houses he was right. Nearly two weeks into the arrangement there were half as many fights between houses as there had been before. Even as they sat Rose could count a handful of Slytherin's and Gryffindor's ...sitting at the opposites table without any repercussion.

"So it's Hogsmeade today." Blake commented. Her dark hair braided back to clear it off her pale face. "Who wants to bet that Charlie and Albus aren't going together?"

Albus and Charlie hadn't spoken since she'd kissed him. He had avoided her at every turn, but Charlie didn't seem to mind. Finally after expressing her feelings to Albus she had gotten her answer. He wasn't interested. So now Charlie was going on a date with Neville Longbottoms youngest son Alexander.

Rose laughed, "Don't you have practice this weekend Blake?"

"Nope. Your dear cousin put it off for Sunday."

"Well isn't that sweet of him." Rose said knowingly. "Who are you going with Blake?"

"Well I was going to ask if you minded if I tag along with you for a bit," She admitted.

"Yeah I don't care."

Blake smiled, her fair face lighting up. "Good. I'll meet you outside in an hour."

"Will do!"

Rose turned to Scorpius as he was in between bites. "So how is this trip going to work?"

"Al and Collin are coming with."

"So is Blake." Rose said flatly.

"Then what's the question…?"

Rose shook her head. "Just wondering what the plan was."

"Well," He said in a teasing voice, "You see we get into our muggle wear, we get into a carriage…and then we go-to-Hogsmeade."

"Hysterical Malfoy. Your finest work really."

Rose rolled her eyes and turned the opposite way to strike up a conversation with Charlie who was reading the Prophet two seats away. "So, how's it going?"

"Perfectly fine thank you." Charlie retorted.

"You excited for your big hot date today?"

Charlie swept her long dark hair out of her even darker eyes. "I'm trying to hold it all in, right now."

"Well if it gets boring-"

"I doubt it will be, but if it is, I'm not spending time with you guys." She paused and looked at her and Scorpius. "It's weird you two go from being the most civil divorced couple, to an actual couple every five seconds." Charlie whispered to Rose with a laugh.

Rose blushed. "I don't know what you're talking about…"

"Okay," She smirked, "Suit yourself, but I know you Rose Weasley."

"What's that supposed to mean Charles?"

Charlie said, "You're a bright girl. I'm sure you can figure it out."

Rose opened her mouth, but her ears caught a conversation quite similar was happening only a few inches away from her. Except it was between Scorpius and Albus.

"I'm just asking what your intentions are with my cousin." Albus said casually in a low voice.

"You're suggesting I'm doing something." Scorpius retorted.

"No, I'm just saying you two seem …_chummy._ And I know it's been awhile since you've had a girlfriend."

"So you're saying I'm going to make a move on your cousin…because I'm lonely."

Albus let out an aggravated sigh. "No…I'm saying you two have been getting… close lately and I've seen the way you've been looking at her."

"Now I know you are just trying to bust my balls." Scorpius laughed and he lied. "I haven't been looking at her any differently."

"Fine. Lie to your oldest friend in the world." Albus said, "But I'm not the only one who's noticed…You both can't keep the smiles off your faces when you're with each other."

Rose froze and listened very carefully, as she felt her face flush again. Scorpius also was intrigued by Albus's observation. Had she been smiling more than before? There was no way he could know that, but Albus would have been able to tell.

"You think she's happier being glued to me everyday?" Scorpius scoffed skeptically. "I think she just likes her hair too much too rip it out everyday."

"Yes, as messed up as that is, I think both of you are happier being stuck together."

Scorpius shook his head. "I don't know what you're talking about. We're just…"

"What?" Albus grinned all-knowingly. "What's the end of that sentence? Are you two even bold to admit you've become friends? Or are too chicken to admit that maybe perhaps you are more than that?"

Wiping his face with his hand. Scorpius gave his friend a clap on the back and turned to Rose. "You ready to go Weasley?"

She jumped and tried to pretend she hadn't been listening intently. "Uh yeah sure."

* * *

They returned to their common room and quickly changed. The procedure between them had become so routine that the tension growing between them made that system work slower than usual. It was electric, and burning more and more as time went on.

In less than twenty minutes they were both fully dressed and ready to go. More then once when they walked their hands hit each other, but every time they just laughed awkwardly and pretended it didn't happen. They almost reached the Great Hall when they were stopped.

It was Professor Higgins who had interrupted them. "I wanted to speak to you-"

"We are being perfectly behaved Professor," Rose assured him, and then before she could talk herself out of it, she side hugged Scorpius, much to his surprise. "See? All kinds of friendship and camaraderie. No fighting whatsoever."

He smiled. "That's excellent. Actually-"

"Professor Higgins," Andrea Hutton, a fifth year student interrupted, her big brown eyes full of tears. "I need to talk to you."

"Yes, of course." He addressed Scorpius and Rose, "I'll talk with you two later."

After the Headmaster left, Rose rested her arm on Scorpius's shoulder. "What was that about?"

"I'm more concerned about you," He said, eyeing her.

"What? What did I do now?"

"All kinds of friendship and camaraderie?" He mocked.

Rose removed the arm that was leaning on him and smacked him. "Act right Malfoy."

"Bloody bird." He scoffed walking on.

Scorpius Malfoy had only three real friends. Albus, Derek and Collin. Derek Zabini was taller than Scorpius, with dark hair and even darker skin. Collin Morgan was pale with a very scrawny body and the highest cheekbones had ever seen. Derek couldn't stand Rose or Albus. He made it perfectly clear where his feelings on the Weasley/Potter clan stood. Collin on the otherhand was very Switzerland about the whole thing. He was the nicest Slytherin Rose had met, and as soon as he and Albus rounded the corner, his whole face broke into a warm smile.

"Collin!" Scorpius grinned, shaking his hand like men do.

Collin grinned back, but his attention turned to Rose in a heartbeat. "Weasley, you are looking foxier and foxier every time I see you."

Rose smirked, today her red hair was pulled back in a high ponytail and she wore a stripped oversized shirt, black boots and jeans. Though she did put some minor make-up on, in her opinion she didn't look anything special. Collin was infamous flirt and sought any excuse to rile Rose up, especially since Albus loathed it.

"Collin really? You've been here five seconds. Can you keep it in your pants today?" Albus sighed in irritation.

"What? She loves it. Don't you my rose pedal?" Collin winked at her.

An uncontrollable laugh escaped her lips. She crossed her arms and said. "You know I just _ADORE_, when you call me that."

"Oh I know my darling."

"Can we go now?" Albus whined looking at them with distain.

Rose smiled and shook her head. "We are waiting for Blake."

"Ask and you shall receive," Blake called as she walked over to the group, a wide smile on her face.

"Well come on then," Scorpius said shortly.

Rose gave him a weird look. Scorpius looked annoyed, but she didn't understand why he looked that way. Albus and Collin were his friends, shouldn't he be happy to see them?

Blake talked with Rose about a Transfiguration project before switching over to her Quidditch woes. With Blake everything always came back to Quidditch, she was obsessed with it, which is precisely why she got on so well with Albus. Collin was telling Scorpius and Albus a story, that had them howling with laughter before they were about to arrive in the carriages.

"Never," Collin proclaimed, "Will I do that again!"

"You always do try don't you?" Albus cackled running a hand through his unruly hair.

Blake helped herself up into the carriage, and Rose was about to do the same when Collin came out of nowhere. A bright smirk on his face, his hand went out to help her.

"My lady."

"Not necessary Collin." She laughed.

"But for one as beautiful as you Rose it is."

"Morgan," Scorpius spoke nudging him out of the way. "You know we can't be more than three feet away from each other."

Collin grinned joining Scorpius in the carriage, "Only for another week and then she's free as a bird. You weren't planning on seeing anyone where you Rose?"

"No one has asked." Rose replied avoiding his answer.

"Well then there is one more Hogsmede trip next month," Collin started suggestively as the carriage began to roll to the village.

Albus let out an irritated sigh. "Shut it Collin! I've had enough. Quit hitting on Rose."

"Aw," Rose pretended to be touched. "My cousin coming to defend my honor."

Scorpius who sat next to Rose muttered, "_As if you have any_," under his breath as he looked out the window.

No one else heard him, but Rose certainly did. Her chest tightened and she glanced and saw the hollow in his cheeks were constricted in annoyance. Rose had this urge to reach across his lap and grab his hand. It would have been easy, a gesture surely common enough to go unnoticed, but not in that carriage. Not with everyone watching. The urge had been so easy for her to imagine it scared her, but she didn't think on it. After all she didn't grab his hand or say anything to him.

If he was mad at her or just mad at everyone that was his problem. He knew he could talk to her. Didn't he?

Scorpius grew increasing more and more angry as the day went on. At first he blamed the boring shops they went into. Then it was the over sugared coffee he drank, but by the time they settled into the three broomsticks around midday, he finally was unable to deny what had been bothering him. Collin, one of his best friends in the world was pissing him off. It had been festering in him all day and finally when they were about to order he'd had enough.

"Weasley, look a bunch of couples are dancing. Don't you want to join them?"

After five hours of being hit on Rose was looking worn, but she was still taking Collin's teasing in stride. "Collin, I love you. You know I'm a big fan of your work, but you also know, as I have told you, that I can't go farther than three feet away from Scorpius."

"Scorpius?" Collin hooted, "Since when do you call him that?"

"Since I spend everyday next to him."

Collin adored that. "Really? Then Scorp old man, why don't you ask this fine damsel to dance?"

"Collin," Albus laughing rubbing his temples. "Lay off."

"No, Al," Blake intervened, her grey eyes glowing with amusement as she put a hand on Albus's boney shoulder. "I want to see where he takes this."

"Well Scorpius? Am I going to dance with her or-?"

Rose couldn't take it anymore. She stood up, dragged Scorpius to his feet and pulled him over to the dance floor. Tensely, she took his hands and put them on her waist before dropping her own on his well-toned shoulders.

"What-is-the-MATTER-WTH-YOU?!" She hissed furiously up at him as they stood perfectly still. "You've been acting like a right git ALL-DAY!"

His lips thinned. "I've done nothing of the sort."

"Bullocks! Every time you've looked at me it's been a glare, and everything you've said has been spiteful and …_hateful._"

"I've done nothing-"

Rose's hands moved up to his face in a flash and she forced him to look into her eyes. "What's wrong?"

He couldn't say it. He just couldn't. So he just stayed silent.

"Fuck it. Forget it." Rose dropped her arms from him, gave him a dirty look and began to walk away.

She knew that magically she wouldn't be able to get far. He would have to follow her out of habit and out of necessity. But she wasn't going to try to talk to someone who clearly didn't want to talk to her. Scorpius couldn't let her walk back over to Collin though. Scorpius knew his friend was kidding around, but he also knew his friend would tease Rose all day. And he couldn't take that. So he grabbed her arm and swung her back around into him like someone would do while dancing.

Letting out a high note of surprise, Rose gasped, her brown eyes widening as she was flung into his arms. Scorpius was hit by the smell of lavender as her bright crimson hair came out of her hair tie and dropped down to her elbows.

His arms circled her waist; his grey eyes conflicted, stared into her eyes. After a beat he began to move and then they were dancing. "I'm not being a prick on purpose."

"Well whether it's on purpose or not, you're doing it." She said, her voice not as sharp as before. "What I don't get is why it's being directed at me. What did you say that before? That I have no honor?"

Guilt seized him and he unintentionally pulled her closer. "I didn't mean that…Collin was just getting on my nerves."

"By why were you lashing out at me?"

He opened his mouth, but then shut it, avoiding her glance. "I'm just sorry."

"…I don't understand you at all," Rose frowned, looking away, but still following his lead. "I thought we're doing good…"

"We are." He insisted.

"Well," She pulled away and crossed her arms, a torn look on her face. "Then you figure out what you're problem is and get back to me."

* * *

Rose then strutted off and sat back down next to Blake. Until he wanted to talk to her and explain why precisely he was projecting on her, she wasn't speaking to him. Sulking, Scorpius sat across from Rose in a worse mood then when he left the table.

"What's wrong?" Blake muttered to Rose, "You look in a right state."

"Malfoy is being a prick…" Rose made a noise as if to laugh. "Nothing new I suppose."

"Oh…Merlin…Rose look who just walked in." She whispered in a shocked voice.

Rose looked up just in time to see Alexander Longbottom walk inside hand in hand with Charlie. They were laughing about something or another. At first no one noticed, but then Albus happened to glance at the door. Before he never showed any interest in her whatsoever. Not even the slightest quiver of anything. But at that moment she saw that it wasn't true. His bright green eyes, that had been so guarded, showed full hurt. Then in a fluid movement, as Charlie and Alexander made their move to head towards them, Albus stood up and walked out.

"So," Blake whispered, "We finally know how he feels."

"Yeah." Rose said, watching her cousin pass their window and keep walking. "Blake can you do me a favor?"

Blake let out a sigh, and she pulled on her jacket. "Yeah yeah, I'll go after him. What are teammates for?" She clapped Rose on the back lightly before picking up and leaving too.

Charlie waved to Blake, snorting, "Where is she going?"

"She wanted to grab something at the Quidditch store," Rose lied naturally, "It's been bugging her all day."

"Ah," Charlie nodded as she and Alexander moved into Blake and Albus's now empty seats.

Collin shifted over and whispered to Rose, "Just an hour ago, Al said he didn't care what Charlie did."

"I know right? He's so full of it." She said quietly so only he would hear her.

"I'm not making you actually uncomfortable right?" Collin asked, his blue eyes beaming with sincerity. "I mean I feel like you're taking it the way its intended…but I feel like Scorp and Al do not."

Rose wrapped her arm around his and hugged it. "They just think you're serious…though I don't know why that bothers Scorpius."

"Isn't it obvious?"

She frowned. "What is?"

"Think Rose pedal," He smirked, as he rose to go get another Butterbeer. "What part of my behavior is the most offensive?"

Rose gaped after him, trying to figure out what he meant. Scorpius and Alexander Longbottom were discussing Quidditch while Charlie looked bored. Wordlessly, she moved over and began talking to Rose.

"What's up?"

"Nothing."

"Well I was having a nice date before your boyfriend and started talking to him about Quidditch." Charlie pouted.

Rose snorted, "He's not my boyfriend."

"Who are you kidding? You totally have mamihlapinatapei."

Blinking she asked, "What the bloody hell is that?"

"Look it up nerd." She grinned, but then it faded. "That's it. I can't take it anymore." Charlie grabbed Alexander by the collar and walked away with him as if he were a purse and not a fully-grown man.

Rose would have laughed, if at that moment Scorpius didn't look up and stare at her. It was so…intense. No one ever stared at her like that and yet here he was, three feet away. Staring at her, his lips thin, his grey eyes fixed in an unreadable expression.

"Rose-"

"This isn't over yet?!" Derek, the biggest git in Hogwarts exclaimed, sitting down in between Rose and Scorpius. His haughty face looked livid, as he glowered at Rose. "I bet you're just adoring this Weasley."

"It's actually a right pain in my arse Zabini," She snapped, "Much like you."

Scorpius could feel a fight coming on, so he rose. "Derek, bugger off."

"You're defending her?" Derek breathed infuriated.

"Oh Merlin," Rose groaned, putting her hand on her face. "Zabini, go back to the hole you crawled out of… Malfoy, let's just go back to the castle."

Derek's black eyes glittered as he sipped his alcoholic drink. "Weasley, don't think just because you're-"

"Derek, knock-it-off," Scorpius sighed standing up. "Come on Weasley."

Rose got up and moved to walk out with Scorpius. He wasn't her favorite person right then, but clearly sitting in the Three Broomsticks was not the place to be. Before she could walk past Derek, he grabbed her arm to prevent her from going on. She knew he was a shot away from being drunk. Rose was going to just point her wand at him and walk away. Scorpius wasn't going to wait that long. He reached forward, broke Derek's grip on Rose's arm, picked her up and placed her behind him.

"I told you to back-off."

"Oh put away your alpha-male bullocks." Derek scoffed hatefully.

Scorpius shook his head furiously, grabbed Rose's hand and walked out.


	8. Acutely Aware

"I don't know what you're so upset about," Scorpius snapped as he slammed the portrait hole shut. "I didn't ask him to come over and certainly didn't make him feel welcome."

"You think I'm mad because of Zabini?!" Rose shrieked. "Why don't you take you're head out of your arse and notice how you've been treating me all day. And then you have the NERVE to act all noble and save me like I should be grateful to you or something!"

"So you're saying you're angry because I protected you?"

"Protected…?" She raged, clenching her fists at her sides. "You are," She stopped to throw him against the wall. "A complete," She pushed him violently, "And total!" She screamed. "GIT!"

They didn't notice the Headmaster enter the room. Scorpius's cheekbones went from extremely white to hot pink as his steel colored eyes intensified in anger. Rose took a step closer, her face even with his shoulder as she glowered up at him. The heat between them electrified the room, as the tension grew almost to a boiling point. The Headmaster decided that would be the best time to interrupt them.

"I was going to come here and take the spell off," the Headmaster declared, a small frown falling on his face. "But it appears that you two could use a little more time. I will give you two an extra week I think."

"But Professor, next week is Easter!" Rose cried.

"Yes," He frown deepened, "You two should have thought about that."

Then, without another breath, the headmaster turned on his heel and walked out of their common room.

* * *

Rose's nostrils flared as her face went crimson in pure rage. She turned to Scorpius, and immediately began hitting him. Her hands swinging at him viciously she said, "THIS-IS-ENTIRELY-YOUR-FAULT!"

"OY! STOP IT!" He groaned as he tried to deflect her question. "YOU BLOODY BIRD!"

"This is your fault Scorpius!...You know what?!" She paused and stopped hitting him. Her lips thinning in a deathly calm. "It's actually my fault. I apologize for thinking that you could actually be a fully functional human being! THAT IS MY ERROR!"

He scoffed and rolled his eyes at her, "Rose don't be an idiot."

"Me?! You must be barking if you think I'm an idiot! You're the one who's been acting like a git for no-good-reason!"

"I'm not having this argument with you-"

"Well that's too damn bad isn't it?" Rose shouted, "Because you don't have a choice. We are going to argue about this until you tell me what the hell is wrong with you."

And then he laughed. He was still furious with her, but he couldn't, even for a second, stop the burst of laughter that escaped through his pursed lips. When she was angry her eyebrows puckered together, and she pursed her lips tightly. It was refreshing what a force of nature she was, so stubborn and completely unyielding to him. Most people just relented and moved on from whatever tricky subject was causing the tension, but not Rose Weasley. She didn't back down from anything.

"You're ridiculous."

"Me? I'm ridiculous?!" She let out a strangled scream, "I could kill you!"

Scorpius walked up the girls staircase shaking his head with laughter.

"Just WHERE do you think you're going?" She demanded, her hands firmly on her hips.

"Didn't you say you wanted to shower after Hogsmeade?"

Rose had long forgotten about this conversation and found she was thoroughly caught off guard. "What?"

"Come on." He smirked, "I'm sure you can bicker with me after, but if I have to hear you go on and on I might as well be clean."

Trailing after him, her face became beet red. With every step she took another jolt of fury scorched through her body. She changed into her swimsuit in warped speed, using her rage to fuel her energy. By the time they got into the shower Rose had figured out a plan. It was a simple plan, but it was all she had to work with.

He got in first and turned on the water, unassuming with a smirk still planted on his face. As soon as she got into the shower, she locked the door and cornered Scorpius with her wand pressed against his bare throat.

"Weasley! What the hell-?!" He yelped.

"No!" She cut him off viciously, "You either tell me what your problem is or you stay in here indefinitely. Your choice Malfoy."

He looked at her face and lost his nerve. Glancing away from her he lied, "It's nothing."

"What did I do?" She asked in the smallest voice, her brown eyes softening. "It's clearly something I did, since it was directed at me."

"It's not you…. I was pissed at Collin. It was nothing."

"But why?! He was just joking around! Why did it bother you so much?!"

"I didn't like the way he was talking to you alright?!" Scorpius answered bluntly without thinking.

Rose froze. Her eyes widened, and her chest rose and fell dramatically as hot water dripped down the top of her naked back, glided under her baiting suit top to the peak of her baiting suit bottom. Her hand slowly dropped from his neck, her grip on her wand loosing as her breaths became heavier.

Completely out of his element, Scorpius didn't understand the words that just came out of his mouth. He knew they were the truth as soon as he said them, but he had no idea he felt that way until just then. It made perfect sense, and yet it made no sense at all. He glanced down at her and felt his heart catch in his throat. Her red hair was curling up from the water and steam of the shower. The mascara and eyeliner that had been tracing her eyes was dripping down her face. She looked like a lovely mess, and the longer he took in her soft gentle little lips the more he wanted to do something he couldn't believe he was thinking.

But he was thinking it.

The feeling built from the depth of his stomach and trickled up, spreading across his chest and consuming him. He had felt this way before, when he had kissed a girl for the first time many years ago, but this was completely different. This time he had snogged a girl before. He had gone through the steps and wasn't supposed to feel anything new or special about any of it. But at that moment he did. It was concentrated and stronger than anything he'd ever felt. The feeling knocked him off his feet, and made him unsteady.

Scorpius always felt he had a firm grip on his life. He knew where he wanted to do, and he knew exactly how to get there. Until this situation with Rose he never considered traveling or doing something based on impulse. He always thought everything had to be planned and scheduled for it to work. But nothing, absolutely nothing between him and this slender ginger girl was planned and it excited a part of him he didn't know existed.

Slowly his hand went to the hand that held her wand, guiding the hand down to her side. Then, it was as if his body was moving of it's own accord. His right hand slipped behind the small of her back tentatively, and as it held her it brought her closer to him. They were inches away from each other, but neither one of them closed their eyes as they wandered well past just an experiment into a whole new place neither one of them had really been before.

Rose shifted onto her tiptoes, and Scorpius squeezed her body into his as their lips met. A jolt shot through them both, and within a second it went from a very gentle kiss to a full on snog. Her arms wrapped around his neck, and his arms skimmed up her body pressing every part of her anatomy to his. Every touch was investigational, but always found great results. Soon their lips parted and Rose was roughly pushing him against the shower wall. Their breaths were searing and passionate, as the air around them grew hotter and hotter with every touch.

Soon Scorpius's hormones kicked into overdrive and he couldn't hold back any longer. He propelled her forward, into the jets of scorching water against the opposite barrier. His lips went after hers hungrily and her hands tangled themselves in his bright drenched hair. They might have kept going, all of the hate and anger they'd been building for seven years was right there on the surface burning them both alive, but they didn't get the chance to find out.

"Rose!" Her cousin Lucy called, her little stern voice managing to cut through the sound of the shower and slice through their embrace. "Rose! I'm waiting in your room okay?!"

Rose groaned and yelped as she and Scorpius pulled away from each other. Her arms were still draped on his shoulders, her body still cradled in his arms as he let out a heavy sigh and leaned his recently shaven jaw against her temple.

"I hate your cousin," He declared honestly.

"Everyone does," She whimpered resting her head on his bare chest.

For a few seconds they stood there. Unsure of how to act, but then Rose laughed. "You know, we might want to actually wash."

"Fine," He handed her his shampoo and lowered his head, "I would like a Mohawk today please."

She giggled, despite the fact…despite everything, she couldn't help herself, she giggled like a school girl and didn't care what it looked or seemed like. And then she expertly arranged his hair like she did before, with a sappy grin on her face. When she finished he rinsed it out and politely moved out of the way. Rose grabbed a handful of shampoo and applied it to her severally tangled hair.

"I'm wearing a swim suit you know." She told him amused by his behavior. "You don't have to face the other way."

Scorpius chuckled, his back muscles tensing as he did. "Believe me, I really do."

She laughed and finished washing her hair, when she finished, she poked his back. He jumped in surprise and spun around. "All done?"

"Yep." Rose grabbed her wand. "Let's go."

"As you say Ms. Weasley." Scorpius smiled vibrantly, his whole face beaming.

* * *

Rose changed into her clothes, and so did Scorpius. But as soon as they opened the door to Rose's bedroom the natural alignment they'd discovered vanished. As soon as Lucy's judgmental eyes landed on Scorpius, he felt a shiver of self-consciousness that melted all the warmth the shower had provided him away until he was back to the way he was before they returned to the common room.

A similar effect occurred with Rose, and she subconsciously shifted away from him, wrapping her arms around herself despite the fact that she was more covered now than she was just a moment earlier. Her fingers dug into her baggy white charms club shirt as her hair dripped down her neck.

"Why were you both in there?!" Lucy asked her voice raised in alarm.

Rose blushed, but she raised her eyebrows and kept her voice casual. "We have to shower sometime Luce."

"But…But-!" She protested fiercely.

"We wore swim suits, relax." Rose sighed avoiding any further questions, "Now what's so urgent? It's nearly curfew Luce."

"Didn't you get the letter?" She asked, her eyebrows knitting together.

Rose rubbed her eyes. "Look, I've had a really long day. So if you could just get on with it-"

"We're having a huge family gathering for Easter."

"Don't we always?" Rose groaned.

Lucy shook her head. "No, I mean the ENTIRE family."

"Oh Merlin," Rose gave Scorpius cringe. "So…Malfoy will be there too Luce."

Her eyes darted over to him in suspicion. "What do you mean? The spell should be lifted in two days!"

"We fucked up, and we're stuck like this for another week-"

"YOU WHAT?" Lucy screamed, rising off Rose's bed. "Rose! How could you be so irresponsible?"

Rose rolled her head back and let out a short breath of irritation. "It's already done Luce. I can't do anything about it. I will write mum and dad to…actually I'll write mum and tell my father…never."

"Your father is going to kill you Rose Weasley," Lucy told her scolding.

"You overreact Lucy. My father's blood pressure will rise, I will calm him down, we will get through the week and everything will be fan-tastic." Rose pushed moved her to the door. "But for now I'm exhausted and I want nothing more than some sleep."

Lucy looked from Scorpius to Rose in completely and utter disbelief. She couldn't believe what she was seeing or hearing, but Rose was over Lucy and her appalled expression about the course of events.

"But-" Lucy began, but Rose, with Scorpius drifting behind her, ushered Lucy to the portrait hole and shoved her out.

Not looking at each other, they slipped into their individual sleeping bags, both of them acutely aware of how close they were to the other person.

"Goodnight Rose." Scorpius whispered, grinning in the darkness.

Rose snorted and said, "Night Scorpius."


	9. Hauntingly Beautiful

There were two days until Easter break and Rose and Scorpius hadn't said a word to one another about what had happened between them days before. It was like they had put up a veil between them, allowing them to speak and tease each other as before, but never sitting too closely or touching each other.

Rose had set a precedent after her cousin Lucy left her room, that she would never let herself be closer than three feet to him, which Scorpius silently obliged. Her feelings didn't just upset her or confuse her; they completely and utterly derailed her.

Rose Weasley hated Scorpius Malfoy, _period._

There wasn't supposed to be anything after that. No friendship, no civility, no nothing. But now they were friends and that had shifted everything. They knew things about each other that no one else did. They had private quiet little conversations that nobody understood. Somehow in the course of forcing to be with one another for nineteen days and nineteen nights they had grown closer than some people did in years.

Now, she had no idea what to do. How was she supposed to go to his family's house? How the hell was she supposed to bring him to her house? Before she would have shrugged it off and said that it was just another bump in the road. But now she had all of these inconvenient…feelings, swirling around her head and chest, making her not to sure about anything.

Rose and Scorpius sat in their common room; she lounged on the couch while he sat beside her on the floor. His back was leaning against the front of her couch to the point where the collar of his shirt grazed her bare knees lightly. Whenever he shifted, it was so gentle that it lightly tickled the side of her knees. Still, she didn't move, despite her passionate feeling that she shouldn't be feeling anything of the sort.

"Mamihlapinatapei," Rose muttered under her breath, as she searched the dictionary in her hands, her schoolbooks tossed aside. "Mamihlapinatapei…oh! Here it is…" Her face turned dark. "Charlie you arse! I don't…he doesn't…we don't…Ugh!"

Scorpius looked up from his homework in interest. "What?"

Rose slammed the dictionary shut, "Nothing!...Are you…um…done with your…um, homework there?"

"Almost," He laughed at her, "Why?"

"We have rounds soon."

"Yes, yes we do." Scorpius finished the line he was working on and then turned to face her. "What are you doing?"

Rose tossed the dictionary aside, "Nothing."

"Well then let's go. I'm done."

Scorpius reached over to help Rose stand up, as she gripped his hand he felt a heat rise from his collarbone to his throat. He wanted to pull her closer and snog her senseless like he'd been wanting to do for days, but he didn't. Instead he released her as soon as she was sturdy on her feet and headed out.

At first he considered talking to her about what had happened, but the tension between them had been so elevated, so testy, that he decided it would be best to wait for her to make the first move. As they walked through the castle, they both stuffed their hands in their pockets and avoiding looking at each other if they could help it. Of course, they both broke that at least a handful of times each.

No matter how many times they both tried to go back to the way things were even an eight days earlier, they couldn't. What was between them now was too strong for them to ignore, but still under the radar enough for them to deny.

* * *

Rose tucked her long straightened hair behind her ear, as she walked along the large moonlit windows. Still in their uniforms, Rose had left on everything but her knee socks and proper shoes, opting instead to wear some house slippers. Scorpius on the other hand had left his Slytherin tie in the common room. They were perfectly relaxed, but at the same time completely on edge. It was simple and if they would just talk with one another they could have evaded all of the awkwardness, but they didn't. They, like all teenagers, preferred to muddle around in misery and angst instead of just communicating how they felt in the first place.

"So um," Rose cleared her throat, not looking at him. "How are we going to do this whole… Easter thing?"

Scorpius let out a low breath licking his lips in thought. "Well…we probably should do my family first. It will be the quickest anyway."

"So three days with your family and four with mine?" Rose clarified as they turned down yet another silent coridoor.

"That sounds about fair." He nodded.

"Okay…Are you going to like…" She laughed awkwardly, "Warn your parents?"

Scorpius frowned, the lines in his forehead creasing together in thought. "I will tomorrow."

"What are you going to say?"

"The truth." He said not understanding her question. "What else would I say?"

Rose shrugged, "I dunno…I'm not going to say anything."

"How are you not going to say anything?" He criticized her quickly. "I'm going to need somewhere to sleep for four days Weasley."

"As soon as you're there they will…. Well," She paused with a guilty flush thinking of her overprotective father, "At least mum will be… more than accommodating. I figure why give them time to prepare? It only gives them more time to figure out how to say no to you."

Scorpius smirked, looking down at her affectionately. "Is that how you approached them about your trip around Europe?"

"Yep," She beamed, tilting her chin up in pride, "I grabbed Albus, got all of the statistics and facts, had my Uncle George back me and attacked them in the middle of family dinner so they couldn't run away from it or say, 'not now Rose.' I love my family, they are the nosiest bunch in the world. As soon as I said the word, 'Europe,' my cousins were already talking about how great they thought it was AT my parents."

"It must be nice to have a big family," He acknowledged distantly.

Rose smiled, "I love it, but it can get a little crowded. Everyone's trying to out-do each other and be the rising star of the family. It sounds exhausting really. I mean I want to be successful and all that, but I'm not going to try and compete with my cousin's over it."

"Does Lucy?" Scorpius said, think in remarkable dislike of her cousin. "She seems the competitive type."

Rose snorted, "Oh that she is. I love her too death but she's so much like my Uncle Percy it hurts. It's all about the rules and what's written down to be proper." She shook her head, "She hasn't done a spontaneous thing in her whole life…and she thinks that means she's a shoe in for HeadGirl."

"There's more to our job than following the rules."

"We are perfect examples of that aren't we?" Rose laughed gesturing to their three feet constraints.

Scorpius laughed with her, "Yeah I guess we are."

Their eyes met, his grey eyes softened and her brown eyes widened as their walking pace slowed considerably. She tried to look away, her throat tightened as she fought herself. All she wanted to do was throw his tall, muscular body against the castle wall and throw her body at him like jaguar in the jungle…

As the fictional her and Scorpius ripped each others clothes of and broke at least 14 school rules…15 if she counted the part were he-

"Hey," Scorpius interrupted her thoughts to point, "Isn't that-"

"OH HOLY MERLIN!" Rose swore as soon as she saw who he was gesturing to, "SHITE! Move! Move!"

"Rose!" Scorpius called as she grabbed his wrist and dragged him through the castle, "We are supposed to punish students that are outside of bed not run from them!"

"It's Wood!" She wined as she tossed him behind a tapestry. "That bugger saw me! I know he did!"

Scorpius snorted, "Rose you can't hide from him forever."

"Look, he's not a bad person. And I don't normally run from my problems. He just doesn't understand that when I say I don't like him like that, I mean it. I'm not going to change my mind. Because I simply don't feel that way about him, and I hate seeing that look on his face of pure rejection."

Her face became serious as her big brown eyes filled with tears in the darkness he could see it. "I don't want to do that to someone."

"You have to think about it this way." Scorpius reasoned quietly, "He knows you don't like him, he knows it bothers you and yet he keeps trying. The kid keeps putting you in this position."

"He doesn't see it like that." Rose insisted. "We're about to graduate I won't have to do this much longer."

Scorpius frowned and gave her a dirty look. "For someone that always insists to not care what other people think…"

"I don't care what he thinks. I care how he feels, alright?"

Scorpius waited a beat, he saw how sincerely she wished to avoid this heartbreak, but he also saw what she couldn't, which was the truth. The boy was much better off being told off and moving on with his life that clinging to someone that could never feel something for him.

He knew she just didn't want to hurt his feelings, and he wasn't going to make her do it. Instead he thought of a much better and cleaner solution.

"This is ridiculous…" Scorpius wrenched open the tapestry and evaded her grip. "Oy! WOOD! WOOD!"

"You're an arse Scorpius Malfoy!" She spat hatefully still staying hidden. "An arse! Stop it right now-"

Scorpius wasn't fazed, "You might want to pipe down there Weasley, 'ere he comes now."

"Malfoy," Zach Wood addressed him formally looking around curiously slightly out of breath, "Where is Rose?"

"Why do you fancy her Wood?" Scorpius cut to the chase quickly, leaning against the wall with his arms crossed.

"I think she's hauntingly beautiful."

Scorpius fought the impulse to laugh at this. "Yes, that's wonderful, but do you know anything else about her? Her likes, her interests?"

"I know she can't be further than three feet away from you." He began suspiciously, "So what happened? Where is she?"

"The headmaster took the spell off," Scorpius lied expertly, "But you didn't answer my question."

Zach said, "I know when her birthday is, she's top of her class-"

"Yes, well she's Rose Weasley." Scorpius cut him off as-matter-of-factly, "Those things are common knowledge. I'm talking about real things, like what she eats for breakfast, how many hours she sleeps a night things like that."

"No…but," He scrambled looking surprised, but then he jumped to attack. "What would you know?"

"The answers to both questions." Scorpius replied.

Zach scoffed, "You spend two weeks with her and you think you have the right-"

"Her favorite fruit grapes, favorite color blue, favorite season spring, she straightens her frizzy hair every morning and I know her greatest ambition is to write a travel column for the Daily Prophet." Scorpius recited from memory, "I know quite a bit about the HeadGirl, and I also know that she has absolutely no interest in you."

Zach paused, "I'm not going to believe that until I hear that from her."

Scorpius sighed and threw his hands up. "Fucking ridiculous bloke…Rose come on."

Rose came out, and shot Scorpius a nasty look. "Can we not do this?"

"Rose." Zach breathed excitedly. "I knew you were here!...Why were you hiding behind the tapestry?"

"Because…I…" She stammered embarrassedly.

Scorpius groaned, "Honestly, just say it."

"Fine, you prick!" She shouted at him harshly before turning softly to Zach. "Zach, I'm sorry, but I have no interest in you romantically."

"Well mayb-"

Rose repeated louder, "I'm sorry, but I'm not going to change my mind!"

"Is it me?" He whispered hanging his head self-consciously.

"No! No! I just can't choose who I like," She gave him a remorseful smile, "I honestly wish I could."

Zach frowned, "Do you like someone else then?"

Her eyes grew large as she tried to think of a response, but finally she had lost her patience. Rose had tried to be patient. She tried to just ride it out and hope that he'd just get the message, but her feelings were absolutely none of his business.

"Zachary Wood!" She snapped a bright flush taking over her face. "If you don't get back to the Gryffindor common room in the next ten minutes I'm going to give you detention until the end of the year!"

Zach scoffed in disbelief, "Rose you wouldn't-

"Twenty points from Gryffindor!" She announced, completely flustered. "Now move before I take more!" She then said, "You heard me! Move!"

Startled, Zach back away from her and then after taking a quick look at Scorpius he walked away, giving Rose an odd look.

Scorpius let out a delighted laugh. "About damn time."

"I can't believe him! Where did he get off?" Rose scoffed as they walked on, "Why did he think he could ask my something like that?"

"Since when is that such a personal question?" He asked, an amused smirk growing on his face. "You acted as if he asked what color your knickers were."

"Shove off Malfoy."

Scorpius continued unconcernedly, "You would think that you didn't want to answer that question."

"Malfoy," She growled warningly.

"Now," He said, moving closer and closer to her until she was pressed against the opposite wall and trapped between the arms he placed on the wall on either side of her. "Why don't you want to answer that question Ms. Rose Weasley?"

She gulped, her throat ghostly pale in the glow of the moonlight as she looked everywhere but into his eyes. For a minute she considered just maneuvering out of his clutches and moving on before things became …complicated, but the longer she stood there the more clear it had become that it was already complicated. It was clear from the way her feelings were bubbling up in her throat. It was clear from the way Scorpius cradled his body towards hers. And most of all it was clear by the way they were breathing, uneven and heatedly.

"Rose," He whispered almost inaudibly, his voice a low murmur, "Can I kiss you-"

"We-"

He didn't wait for her answer. Scorpius leaned forward, his arms, and body bending simply to press his lips down upon hers. Her response was soft and gentle, at first as if they'd never done this before. His body sunk down on hers, flattening her against the wall as he kissed her more and more deeply.

Finally Rose couldn't hold back any longer, the tension, the acceleration inside her driving her to throw herself at him became such a huge drive that she couldn't fight it anymore. She threw her arms around his neck, pulling his face harder on hers, and propelled her body against his. Groaning, Scorpius thrusted her back, his hands dropping off the wall and seizing the sides of her hips.

She gasped, as his lips feverishly left hers and trailed down to her neck. In one fluid motion as Rose's arched her neck back Scorpius hiked her up around his waist, pinning her to the wall. If they had more time, if they weren't running purely on adrenaline and heat, maybe they would have taken it further, they both clearly wanted to. But since clearly Rose wasn't able to stop herself, Scorpius had to take charge and stop them both.

It wasn't even remotely easy; Scorpius was in the middle of trying to unbutton her blouse when forced himself to put her down and shifted far enough away from her so he couldn't touch her for a few seconds. His chest was beating hard and fast, as he rested his head back against the wall. Rose didn't pull after him, she instead mirrored his reaction as she tried to catch her own breath.

"So," He breathed thickly trying to control himself, "Clearly, we have a problem."

"Clearly," She repeated letting out a small shadowy laugh as buttoned up the top buttons of her blouse.

"What are we going to do about this then?" He asked taking two strands of her fallen hair and tucking her hair behind her ears tenderly.

Rose shook her head in disbelief, "I haven't got the foggiest."

"Well then we have a problem then don't we?" Scorpius grinned down at her as he curled around the wall to face her.

"Yes, I reckon we do." Rose giggled as she did the same to him, "But can we do one thing before we go?"

"What Weasley?"

Impulsively, she tugged him by the collar and pressed his lips down on hers. "That's all."


	10. I Don't Know

"I can't believe we have to do this," Rose groaned as she gripped the handle of her suitcase as they waited for the carriages. "This is the worst idea the Headmaster has ever had…and I'm saying that knowing full well that I don't know 90 percent of the decision's he's made."

Scorpius didn't seem too happy about this either. His pale face cringed at the thought of seeing his parents with Rose. "Well, after this the worst part is over right?"

"You think you're parents are the worst part?" Rose scoffed indignantly.

"I think my father's exact words were, _'what did you do to receive this punishment?_' Followed by, _'we will see about that_."

Rose groaned. "Great."

"You've told your parents …_right?_" He checked as she fidgeted nervously.

"Yeah…" Rose said unconvincingly, not looking at him.

"Rose."

"I told my mum! Relax would you?!" Rose breathed rocking back and forth on her heels. "…What are we going to do about the whole sleeping situation?"

Scorpius let out a raspberry, clueless to how to answer that. "I have no idea. My parents just said they would talk to me when I got there."

"Great, I'm so glad we're going to wing it." Rose started sarcastically, running a hand through her recently straightened hair.

"Come on," He helped her up into the carriage and noticed she smiled as he did. "What?"

She shrugged, "It's nothing."

"What?"

"I just...I like that you do that."

"Do what?"

"Help me. You don't even notice you're doing it." Rose looked away as her cheeks flushed.

Scorpius snorted and rolled his eyes at her. "You haven't been around men with manner's then."

"Oh so you've met my family then?" She laughed.

As the carriage started moving toward the train, Rose began to gnaw on the side of her lip and play with the ends of her hair absentmindedly. Scorpius notice and grabbed her hand to stop her from silently freaking out.

"It will be fine."

"How will it be fine?!" She shouted suddenly. "Your parents are…your parents. They're infamous…and intimidating."

"And you don't think your parent's are?"

Rose gave him a look. "Was that even a question?"

"Okay," He reasoned, "What exactly do you think is going to happen?"

"Easy. I'm going to go in there. Your mother is going to know I've snogged you…she's going to call me a whore. Your father is going to hate me and compare me to my father. And then I will mysteriously be set on fire."

Scorpius released her hand and gave her a dirty look. "Are you suggesting one of my parents is going to set you on fire?"

"I'm saying," She said, laughing at the idea, "That it will just happen. I'm not here to point any fingers."

"You'll be fine. I won't let them set you on fire." He promised.

"That was the most romantic thing I've ever heard." Rose pretended to swoon as she jumped out of the carriage.

Scorpius raised his eyebrows in amusement as she nearly fell into a vat of mud. "Well I try."

"I'm sure you do." She said grabbing her luggage and dragging it up to the train.

"You know," He began, holding himself back. "I could have just carried that for you."

"Then why didn't you?" She countered knowingly.

He said nothing.

"Ah," She turned to point at him. "Because it's too couply. And since we don't know what's going on here," Rose gestured to the air between them, "We shouldn't cross any international boundaries."

"International boundaries?" He repeated tilting his head down at her with a smile.

Rose nodded and heaved her luggage up on the train. "Yep."

"Where are you sitting?" He asked pausing for a moment.

"With Charlie and Blake. You?"

Scorpius gestured back to the Slytherin compartments.

For a second they both moved before remembering something very vital, they hadn't been separated. It was so incredibly thick of them to forget the main reason what was the cause of most of their problems and why they spent so much time together, but somehow in this new relationship they didn't think about the why's.

"Sometimes our stupidity astounds me." Rose started with a frown.

Scorpius shook his head, trying to hide a laugh. "I guess head compartment it is."

* * *

As she followed behind him, Rose began to wonder why she hadn't thought about the why's that were circling around them. In the past two days they'd snogged a lot, but there were heavy boundaries still in place. They still slept in their own individual sleeping bags. They didn't hold hands for prolonged period or touch each other that often. It was clear that they liked each other, but they were both nervous and unsure of what that meant.

Scorpius put her luggage up on the rack and then added his own. He had hoped stupidly that he could go sit with his friends. Not because he especially wanted to spend time with them or see them at all really. But more because he needed time away from Rose, to clear his head and think this through. She hadn't put any expectations on him, but he knew it was only a matter of time. Girls rarely let things just go naturally; they needed to know where they were headed. And that wasn't ridiculous, but the weird thing was their situation wasn't typical.

For them Rose was the one that was impulsive and took chances. Scorpius liked structure, he liked rules and whatever he was doing with Rose Weasley was definitely breaking them all.

Scorpius had gone from having a casual snog partner, to…feeling something. It wasn't specifically boyfriend/girlfriend territory, not that he really knew what that was, but it was something new, which terrified him, and thrilled him at the same time. He kept waiting for her to become boring, but so far even the tedious things she did entertained him. With most girls, he could see the effort they put into the whole thing, but Rose didn't. She straightened her hair because she couldn't stand that it was a mess, not because she worried what other people thought, but because it bothered her. When he thought about it, he couldn't understand why he liked that about her, but that was the problem. The longer he knew her the more things like that kept cropping up and he didn't know how to explain them.

Rose crawled up by the window, and glanced out the window. She saw Scorpius pull out the Daily Prophet across from her, and she noticed that his eyes weren't moving. Holding back a snicker, she grinned and focused her gaze back out the window. It was funny to her that he felt the need to hold a prop to be left alone. It would have been understandable if he had to spend a lot of time with people pestering him, but she knew that wasn't the case, so it confused her. The gesture would have been futile with the Weasley/Potter clan. With them it didn't matter if she had something labeled, 'national security,' on it, they would still insist on bothering her. The contrast between their families couldn't have been more defined, but Rose still hoped she had gotten the completely wrong impression of the Malfoy's.

She hoped beyond any realistic whim that they were cold, but they were also polite so the worst that could happen would be that they ran out of things to talk about. That wasn't that bad at all, especially in comparison to the things she was picturing in her head. Sure her father had poisoned her mind about their family since an early age, but she still couldn't shake the feeling that at least some of those words had been true. What if they absolutely hated her?

The farther they moved away from Hogwarts the more realistic that possibility became.

For almost the entire journey they said nothing to one another. It wasn't awkward or uncomfortable, but content as they both were perfectly fine keeping their thoughts to themselves. Once they were about twenty minutes from the station Scorpius broke the silence.

"So," He cleared his dry throat, intertwining his fingers as he leaned forward. "A few warnings."

"Oh Merlin," She breathed in apprehension. "Your family puts house elves heads up on the walls don't they?"

Scorpius paused. "They used to, but my mum took them down."

"_…they used to?_" Rose said under her breath with a flinch.

"Anyway," He continued, "I wouldn't bring up the following things…Death Eaters, The Ministry, and flowers."

Rose gave him a look. "The first two I can get…but why flowers?"

"My mum lost some garden competition…" He rolled his eyes in distain. "She gets very bitter when someone brings it up."

"Alright, I won't mention flowers, but she might bring it up."

He furrowed his eyebrows. "Why would she do that?"

"I don't know…maybe because my name is a flower."

"It will be fine."

"You keep saying that." Rose replied wryly, crossing her arms.

He shrugged, trying to seem unconcerned. "Because it will."

* * *

There was a loud knock on the compartment door and Rose smiled when she saw it was Albus. She gestured for him to come in, but was curious to see why he looked so worked up.

"What's wrong Al? Quidditch not going so well?" Rose asked naturally.

"That can't be it, he hasn't had practice in a week, because of the Quidditch delay." Scorpius interjected knowingly, "It's about a bird."

Rose smirked, "I wonder who the lucky girl is."

"Oh sod off," He glared at her, running a hand through his hair hopeless. "I didn't know I fancied her."

"How could you not know?" Rose questioned in disbelief.

Albus gave her another dirty look. "I'm not always aware of my feelings like you are Rose…Besides it's not like she made it easy on me."

Rose smacked his arm. "You're an idiot! How was she supposed to make it easy on you? Was she supposed to write you a letter explaining your feelings TO-YOU?"

"No…I didn't…I…" He started and stopped getting furious with her. "I came here to talk to Scorpius!"

"That sucks." Rose said giving Scorpius a smirk.

Scorpius laughed and wiped the side of his face.

"Whose team are you on anyway?" He exclaimed angrily to Rose, expecting her to immediately say his name.

"Charlie's," Rose scoffed as if it were obvious, leaning back in her seat. "Why would I back you?"

"I dunno," He said his voice dripping with sarcasm. "Maybe because I'm your cousin."

Rose waved that away. "That has no barring here."

"Since when is dating exempt from relatives?"

"I've never intervened in your relationships," Rose pointed out coyly. "You, and James are the one's who seem to think it appropriate to bud into mine."

Albus's face shifted into a smirk. "Well it's a good thing you aren't intending to date anyone isn't it?"

Rose's face flushed as she pursed her lips furiously.

The gleam in Albus's eyes was triumphant, as he knew he caught her right where he wanted her. She couldn't say she didn't want to date anybody in front of Scorpius, but she couldn't exactly say she did either. Neither of them may have said anything to Albus of what was going on between them, but they didn't seem to have to. Albus had figured it out and was now using it against her, much to her overwhelming disapproval.

"So what are you going to do?" Scorpius questioned, pretending he didn't notice Albus's last statement.

Albus threw his hands up. "I haven't the foggiest. I mean she has a boyfriend now…_wanker._"

"Why don't you try talking to her?" Rose suggested, her tone softer than before.

"Uh, your missing a part of the puzzle there Rose." Albus let out a short laugh. "That requires me to put all of this…out there."

Rose sighed, "James-"

"My name is Albus," He grinned at her.

"Right sorry…Albus," She said apologetically. "The point is, she kissed you in a hall full of people. Yes it was dare day, but there were a bunch of different one's that didn't involve or require that. She already put it all out there. So the question is what are you so afraid of?"

Albus glanced at Scorpius for back up, "Mate?"

Scorpius took a second before saying, "I think Rose's right. You don't have any other options."

"What happened to, '_birds come and go,'_ '_you'll get over it'?_" Albus whined to Scorpius.

"She is the one who moved on this time. So it changes things."

"Ugh, I hate feelings…They are so …clingy." Albus groaned moving to stand up.

Rose smiled at him. "Just go get it over with, and then you can go get smashed with James at home."

"Good idea Rosie." He pointed at her approvingly. "I guess I'll see you guys in a few days. Good luck Ro."

She nodded back as he shut the door and left in the direction of Blake and Charlie's compartment.

"Do you think that's a good idea?" He asked lightly.

She shrugged, "I don't really know. I can't really see them together, but that doesn't mean anything."

Neither of them said anything for a few minutes, but both their minds were on the same part of the conversation. Rose considered saying something, but she held back. This wasn't the time to have that conversation. It was more important now to just focus on getting through the week.

The train stopped like it always did, but this time Rose didn't look for her parents. Instead her eyes locked on the Malfoy's and she let out a slow breath. Scorpius saw this and he pulled her to her feet.

"Come on, don't be overdramatic."

"Okay," She frowned, "You remember that you said that when it's your turn."

Then she followed him out of the compartment and off the train with a stomach full of anxiety.


	11. Not Getting Any Easier

Draco and Astoria Malfoy weren't specifically what she had been expecting, then again her imagination was a bit distorted. Astoria Malfoy had long dark hair, with warm bright blue eyes, and a slender elegant build, and Draco Malfoy looked, well, like an older, worn version of Scorpius, which was comforting and unsettling all at the same time.

Astoria Malfoy shook her hand politely whereas Draco Malfoy merely nodded at her. It was awkward, but it wasn't until they were beyond the platform that Rose wondered how they were going to get to the Manor in the first place. She couldn't see the Malfoy's owning a car, if they did it would have to be like a stretch limo or something fancy like that.

"How are we getting to your house?" She muttered under her breath as they weaved through the crowd of people.

"Apparating dear," Astoria answered though there was no reason she should have been able to hear Rose through the crowd.

Scorpius smirked. "My mum has ears like a …" He paused, "What animal has good hearing?"

"Owls," His mother responded promptly.

"And cats." Rose added, amused by his mother.

"Dolphins."

She paused, "Elephants…"

"Bats." Mrs. Malfoy retorted competitively though Rose could see she was enjoying it.

"….Uh…" Rose struggled as they nearly made it out of Kings Cross. "Wait! Whales!"

Stumped, Mrs. Malfoy turned and gave her a small smile. "Not bad."

"She is HeadGirl." Scorpius said like it was to be expected, but there was a gleam of pride when he said it that Rose didn't catch, but both of his parents did.

Once they made it outside of Kings Cross station and off to the side, Scorpius's hand slipped into Rose's. She tensed up in surprise; her brown eyes flickered from the crowd to his eyes in an instant. Her hair was half in her face as she starred up the few inches of height difference into his light grey eyes. He saw her face heat up and felt her pulse quicken in his hand.

"What are you doing?" She whispered unsurely.

"We're apparating."

"Oh." She breathed in a complicated mixture of relief and disappointment.

Scorpius wasn't sure how he felt about this. He'd held her hand before so he didn't think anything of it at first because all he was thinking about was apparating. It never crossed his mind that Rose wouldn't see this coming. Her response to him touching her in public, let alone in front of his parents wasn't what he would have expected. He could have predicted the surprise and then confusion, but there was something else there to. The weirdest part was the only reason he recognized what the expression she had was, was because he felt that way too. But then he realized that was crazy how could he not only understand the way she was feeling and also know that he felt the same way?

It was mad, and he immediately pushed the thought out of his mind. Then he compartmentalized it as bringing her to his childhood home jitters. It was nothing more than him over analyzing her surprise.

Rose tried to act like it was the brisk spring wind that brought the instant rush of crimson to her face, but it wasn't. Instead in the few seconds before they apparated she allowed herself to examine how his hand felt interlocked around hers. His grip wasn't tight, but it wasn't loose either. It was firm, secure and not sweaty at all. In the scheme of things it really should have matter to her at all what this felt like. She'd held a bunch of guys hands in the past few years and none of them were particularly memorable, but for some reason anytime something happened with Scorpius she wanted to remember it. Rose logged it away with a special Scorpius tag on it, knowing full well that as soon as the spell was broken that would be one of the little things she'd hold onto. That along with their kiss in the shower, and their accidental cuddle in the room of requirement would be the things she'd think of to remember a time where there was a spark of something unexpected in her life.

* * *

As soon as they arrived at the Malfoy estate he released her hand and walked forward without hesitation. It was that moment, as she trailed behind him, her suitcase occasionally smacking the back of her shoe, that Rose came to the conclusion that this too would be a moment she would look back on with nostalgia and a hint of regret. Nostalgia because she was young and had the entire world at her feet, but regret because soon one of the options she desired wouldn't be available to her much longer.

It was a kind of knowledge that went hand in hand with disheartenment. She was a realist and somehow in a matter of minutes she went from wondering where they were headed to knowing with depressed certainty exactly how far this could go. And it wasn't even about his parents. They had barely said a word to her so far, and none of those words were rude or anything less than polite. It was them. They could never be anything more.

Rose followed Scorpius to his room; she placed her bags near his and listened as he explained how they had gotten into this situation to his mother. Her face ranged from furious to amused in a matter of seconds and a few times during the story her eyes darted in Rose's direction to see her reaction, but Rose was too lost in her thoughts to notice much. It was difficult once you notice something to stop noticing it. Rose would have given anything to have not traveled down that ugly rocky road in her head. She would have much preferred having a socially awkward, but hysterical three days here with a bunch of questions and anxieties. But now that was gone, and all she felt was sad for what could have been if things were different.

"Rose?"

She blinked and looked up to see it was Mrs. Malfoy that was addressing her. "I'm sorry, I must have spaced out. What was the question?"

"What do you like to eat?"

"Oh anything will do. My grandmother cooks a bit of everything so I'm used to trying things." Rose replied lightly.

"Can your mother cook?" Mrs. Malfoy asked curiously.

Rose winced remembering her mother's attempt to make turkey the past Christmas. "She tries, but she's really not that good."

"Oh really? I've always heard she was an exceptional witch."

"Well thank you," Rose smiled sincerely, "She is, but domestic work was always her weakness."

Astoria Malfoy scrutinized Rose for a moment. "And you?"

"Potions, Quidditch, finding pants that are long enough… a lot of things really."

She seemed satisfied by that answer because she said, "I will go check on dinner. You two get freshened up and after dinner Scorpius can give you a tour."

"Thank you Mrs. Malfoy."

Scorpius gave Rose an odd look, pushed off his bed post and sauntered towards her. His blonde hair dropped down into his forehead, he tilted his head to the side and peered down at her.

"What's with you?"

"Nothing, just out of it." She lied unconvincingly.

"You've been acting weird ever since we got here."

Rose let out a short breath. "Please just leave it okay?"

"Are you mad at me?"

"No."

"Then what is it?"

Rose wanted him to just back off and not make her say out loud the things she as thinking. Was it really that much to ask he just stop? She wanted him to stop questioning her, to standing so close, to stop looking at her the way he was. To just stop. Scorpius wasn't the nosy type. Often he kept to himself and never went too far outside of his comfort zone. The only person she'd ever seen him terrorize was well…her and lately he hadn't been doing that. He just looked at her that he was looking at her now. It was a look that tried to be impassive and uncaring, but the longer he looked the softer and more determined his gaze became.

"Rose-"

"Just stop! Stop!" Rose shouted furiously. "I can't have this conversation right now okay?"

Scorpius was about to ask again, but when he saw she was about to cry he stopped. He didn't understand what had gotten into her. She was anxious and a little freaked out the whole day, but this was a whole different thing. It would have been so much easier if she had told him what was wrong. Maybe if she could get more than three feet away from him it wouldn't matter, but at this range everything was explosive.

"I don't want to push you." Scorpius said simply, "I just can't act like nothing is wrong with you when we have to constantly be this close to each other."

Rose put her hand on her forehead, and rested the other one on her hip. "I understand that. I do…I'm going to change."

Scorpius opened his mouth, but shut it when he realized it was pointless. Anything he said would just set her off. So he just nodded, rolled her luggage to her and sat outside the bathroom as she changed.

* * *

He couldn't imagine what had gotten under her skin. Both of his parents had been extremely polite and his mother even went far enough to ask her questions about herself and her family. Something she honestly didn't have to do. So wouldn't that make Rose feel more at ease? From what he saw Rose seemed to genuinely like his mom. What was it that was upsetting her then? His father?

Draco hadn't said a single world to her, how could that bother her? It couldn't be that. It had to be something else. But no matter how long he thought about it he didn't seem to be able to figure it out. Eventually he gave up and changed out of his clothes into some black slacks and a black polo. He knew that Rose would scoff at him for wearing it. She'd call it, 'typical Malfoy wear,' because of the all black crisp look to it, but when she opened the door, she said nothing.

Instead he was gaping at her, because for once she wasn't wearing a school uniform or baggy muggle wear. This time she wore a simple, but pretty knee length black dress. It had a sweetheart neckline, and grazed down just past her shoulders. The material looked soft, it made her pale skin glow and her hair shine in contrast. His almost invisible eyebrows furrowed as his eyes lingered on her body.

"Where did you get that?"

"I figured your parents dressed up for dinner." She shrugged. "Is there something wrong with it? I'm fully covered. I did the bend test and everything is appropriate…Should I wear pants? I don't have any nice pants-"

Scorpius's hand shot out gently to cup the side of her face as he wiped away one of her bangs. It wasn't intentional, he actually watched himself do it with the recognition that he shouldn't be doing it. Her throat clamped up, her eyes widened, but she didn't stop him. He'd kissed her a few times in the past few days, but this time there would be consequences. The other times it was impulsive, and unstoppable. This time he could stop himself and think of where they were and why it wasn't a good idea. He saw why he shouldn't do it, but as he looked into her big brown eyes he knew he was going to do it anyway.

Slowly he dipped his face into hers and she eagerly kissed him back. His arms hugged her up into him, as her hands clung to his shoulders. She tugged him closer and his arms dug into her back as he pressed her body to his. Rose wanted to fight it so that way the next week wouldn't hurt so much, but as soon as he looked at her she was a goner. It was undeniable.

Rose Weasley fancied Scorpius Malfoy. It wasn't just a fleeting thought in her head, it was a fact. There was no protecting herself from getting hurt. No matter what happened now her feelings were on the line.

"You are not making this any easier." Rose groaned as their foreheads rested together.

"Making what easy?" Scorpius asked brushing his hands through her hair.

"Scorpius! Rose! Dinner!" Mrs. Malfoy called from the dinning room.

"Come on," She pulled away from him. "Your mother is waiting for us."

He straightened his shirt and rolled his collar all the way. "Yes Ms. Weasley."


	12. My Apologies

The Malfoy Manor was almost exactly as she had been picturing it. There were dozen's of rooms with crown modeling's, high ceilings, tapestries and really old oil pantings that moved like muggle cartoon's Rose used to watch when she stayed with her muggle grandparents as a kid.

She wasn't sure exactly what she was expecting to happen. Of course it made sense that he _would_ have dinner with his parents in this huge extravagant dinning room, with a royal sized expensive table and gold plates. He was a Malfoy after all, but somehow she was still surprised by it all.

Scorpius laughed at her face and whispered in her ear. "Well?"

"I'm actually surprised that your ego isn't bigger…" She whispered as her eyes glued to the details of the ceramic table.

"Never thought I'd hear you say that." He snorted as he moved to help her into her chair.

Rose furrowed her eyebrows at him. "What are you doing?"

"…Helping you into your chair."

"Whyyy?"

"Because that's what I'm supposed to do…"

Rose laughed at him incredulously. "Says who?"

"_It's just_…" He fumbled around for an explanation. "It's what guys do! Haven't anyone ever opened the door for you?"

"Yeah…But what does that have to do with anything?"

Scorpius shook his head and sighed. "Just get in the damn chair Rose."

"Is that how you talk to the ladies you help into their chair?" Rose mocked him as she slid into the chair.

"You're not a lady Weasley."

"Then why are you bothering to tuck me in?"

"Because Weasley," He muttered his lips on her hairline. "Just because you aren't a lady doesn't mean I'm not a gentlemen."

Rose blushed at his proximity, but soon he sat down next to her and nudged her leg teasingly.

"Rose dear, did you put some blush on? Because you have the most beautiful glow." Astoria Malfoy commented as she strolled into the room with a floor length black gown.

Rose blushed and kicked Scorpius under the table. "Thank you Mrs. Malfoy. Do you need any help?"

"Oh no dear. Draco and I have it, but thank you for offering." She then left the room with a swish of her long black hair.

"Don't you have house elves?" Rose asked in a hush.

"No," Scorpius frowned. "I've never had a house elf."

Rose shrunk guiltily. "Sorry…I just thought-"

"That all pureblood rich families have house elves?"

"Sorry. I'm an idiot."

"It's fine." Scorpius shrugged.

Rose looked to see if his parents were coming, and grabbed his hand for a second, her eyes locking with his. "Okay I don't know how much I just offended you, but I'm going to assume it is worse than you are letting on so before they get back, I formally apologize for doing so."

"It's fine Rose. Albus thought the same thing when he first visited."

"Albus has visited?" Rose muttered in shock trying to picture how that went over.

"My father wasn't too thrilled, but he didn't say anything to him."

"Huh."

Scorpius added in a lower tone, "My mother likes having guests over. I think she's actually excited you're here."

"You've never brought any other friends or some girlfriends home?"

"Just Albus. I'd never bring a girlfriend here unless…"

"Unless what?" Rose wondered watching the sentence die on his lips.

At that moment Mrs. Malfoy and Mr. Malfoy walked in carrying trays of food. Rose was in awe. Apparently Scorpius's father even helped his mother cook the meal. Something her father had never had and could never could do. Hugo was the only male in their entire family that could cook. So it was kind of nice for Rose to see how a completely different family worked.

"How is your turkey Rose?"

She nodded appreciatively, swallowed and said. "It's excellent Mrs. Malfoy."

"How do your parents feel about this?" Draco addressed Rose gesturing to her and Scorpius with his fork.

"Um my mother was disappointed, but after she talked to the Headmaster she said it was very '_character building_.'"

"And your father?" Mr. Malfoy asked sharply before taking a bite of food.

Rose gulped. "I don't know if my mother's told him…I certainly won't."

"Why is that?" Mrs. Malfoy interjected giving her husband a look. "Obviously we don't prefer our son to not be able to be more than three feet away from a pretty seventeen year old girl, but as it's only temporary we are attempting to be open minded."

Rose smiled at her. "Yes well my father isn't the most open minded person. He tends to overreact to things. You may trust that I won't defile your son, but my father doesn't trust anything and it's nearly impossible to change his mind. I told him I'm going to go to Italy after I graduate to check out the job market and he said no before I could even finish the sentence."

"So what are you going to do?" Mrs. Malfoy wondered aloud.

"Go anyway." Rose shrugged. "My dad has been trying to say no to me my entire life, but I always just do what I think is best and ignore the rest, which ironically he taught me."

Scorpius smirked as he moved to take a sip of water.

"What kind of job do you want when you go to Italy?"

"Rose wants to write a travel article for the Daily Prophet." Scorpius answered for her without meaning to.

Astoria Malfoy's eyebrows rose and there was a ring of silence. Both of his parents eyed their son and noticed the faint blush rising high on Rose's cheekbones. In a few minutes they finished there food and went there separate ways for the night.

* * *

Rose and Scorpius used the sleeping bag method once again. Astoria snuck in for a quick second to add an additional spell before disappearing. It was hysterical because she seemed to think they couldn't see her pop in and pop out.

"What spell do you think that was?"

"Probably a spell making sure we can't get into each other's sleeping bags." He laughed under his breath as he took off his night shirt and slipped into his sleeping bag.

Rose wasn't quite tired, earlier she didn't look around Scorpius's room much, but as she sat on top of her sleeping bag her eyes wandered around the room.

"What are you looking at?" Scorpius asked leaning up on his arm.

"Just …around. You don't have a lot of things."

He shrugged. "Anytime I wanted a book. I could find it in the library and I see much point in own other things."

"Your house has a library?" She breathed in amazement.

"Of course."

"My mum has a wall to ceiling bookshelves in the den, but probably nothing compared to an actual library."

"We can see it tomorrow." He told her.

"Really?" She spun around, her face light up with excitement.

He laughed. "Might as well. We will be here for two more days."

"This place is beautiful."

"It's alright." He muttered unfazed.

Rose asked. "Are you going to live here when you have a family?"

"I've never thought about it. Probably not."

"But hasn't it been in your family for centuries?"

"It has," He nodded, "But I kind of want a place of my own without the whole house elf heads on the wall legacy."

Rose scrunched her face up as she glanced around. "Yeah I see that and your parents will stay here so your kids can come to visit them on holidays."

"Who says I'm having kids?" He scoffed dismissively.

"Oh please. I remember when you came over for Christmas one year when your parents were in Sweden. You played with my cousins for hours."

Scorpius flushed, his cheeks turning pink. "I don't know what you're talking about."

"Oh? Have you been hit by an oblivate recently?"

"I saw you playing with your cousins too!"

"Yes, but I'm not the one denying that I want children." She retorted slyly.

Scorpius rolled his eyes. "Whatever Weasley."

Rose looked around for a few seconds before Scorpius reached around and forced her to lie down.

Giggling she swatted his hand away in protest. "I'm not tired yet!"

"Well by all means let me help you." He smirked leaning up so his entire exposed torso was flexed.

"I'm pretty sure your mother put a spell on the room to prevent that." She retorted.

"Want to test that theory Weasley?"

"No, not really. Your poor parents are inconvenienced enough by me being here without me impregnating their son."

"That's not exactly how it works Weasley." He said darkly.

Rose sighed and laid down. "Night Malfoy."

"Night Rose."

Rose smiled and cuddled into her blanket as he shut off the light. She knew he was still awake and she wondered distantly what it would be like if they just did this in a bed instead being separated. In the middle of her thoughts she fell asleep, but Scorpius didn't.

He thought about what Rose said at dinner. It was clear that his mother liked her, which was interesting because she rarely liked anyone. She thought most of the girls in Scorpius's year were stupid and told him so every time they were on platform 9 3/4. But even his father had wanted to know more about her. Given it was about her father, but still he had bothered long enough to have a conversation with her, something he rarely did with his own son.

In the dark his eyes glanced and her softly sleeping figure with a smile playing on his lips.

* * *

Eventually he fell asleep and he woke up early the next morning the same time he always did. Stretching, he yawned and wiped the sleep out of his eyes. Rose was still sound asleep, her hands cupped up under her chin as she dreamed. He didn't want to wake her, but he knew he had to. Gently he reached over brushed her frizzing hair out of her face and rubbed her shoulder.

"Rose."

"Hm?" She mumbled not opening her eyes.

He grinned and shook her shoulder. "Rose, come on. It's time for breakfast."

"Whaat time isn't?" She groaned groggily her hair disheveled as she looked around wildly.

Scorpius checked his watch. "7 o'clock."

"Are you fucking serious?" She gasped, "Why do you have breakfast so early?"

"House rules."

Rose whimpered into her pillow. "That's sadistic."

"Up and at them Weasley."

"Ughhhh."

Scorpius bent down and picked her up like he had weeks ago. This time she didn't fight him. Her body naturally cradled into his chest and she didn't tense up. Her arms did dig into his shoulders but there was a distinct look of trust in her eyes as she sleepily looked up at him.

"What are you doing?"

He opened his mouth to answer, but then he found that he couldn't remember his reasoning for picking her up in the first place. All he could do was stare at her puckered lips, and her pale little make-up-less face.

Confused Rose settled into his arms and relaxed her grip as she realized he wasn't going to put her down. After a few seconds, her face became heated as she realized how strong he must be to hold her up for this long without staggering or even looking strained. Curling her lips inward, she found she was unable to look away from him. His eyes bore into hers for some reason she couldn't fathom. She wanted to ask why, but she couldn't because she wanted to see what he was going to do more.

"Rose! Scorpius!" His mother called knocking on the door. "Come along you two, breakfast is getting cold."

Scorpius groaned in disappointment and put Rose down on her feet. "We'd better go."

"Yeah…" She agreed breathlessly. "Before we change though, I have to do something."

"Wh-?"

His speech was interrupted by her lips as launched herself at him. He reacted with enthusiasm, picking her up and gripping the back of her oversized nightshirt. She didn't want to wait. Next week she might not be able to do this. Next week this could be over, and before it was she wanted to something to remember it by. She knew it would hurt more later, but seeing him now she just couldn't hold back. Rose wanted something to hold onto and Scorpius unwilling was perfectly comfortable obliging to her unspoken request.

When they pulled a part he bit his lip to stop himself from kissing her again. Their breathing was heavy as they tried to collect themselves.

"Breakfast?"

"Yes, but we need to brush our teeth first." Rose snorted, mentally chastising herself for not doing that first.

He shrugged in agreement, tugging on a plain t-shirt as they dragged themselves into the bathroom.

They took turns washing their faces and then in unison brushed their teeth. The whole time Scorpius kept his hand on her lower back. He didn't even notice he was doing it until he was in the middle of brushing her teeth. By then her hand had already curled around the back of his waist and was holding onto the fabric loosely as her body leaned into the side of his.

Occasionally, sometimes when their mouths were full of toothpaste they would smile at each other. They didn't say anything. Neither of them paid full attention to what they were doing, both of them were thinking about their upcoming N.E.W.T's and when they should start studying. But when they both changed into their clothes for the day it hit them of how effortless that process had just been.

Scorpius waited for her to finish brushing and straightening her hair. Her lips were pursed in scrutiny and found himself wondering what they should do for the day. Finally he felt the need to break the silence.

"So what do you want to do today?"

"Explore this mansion and study."

He looked at her oddly.

"What?" She said snottily. "Some of us have to study to get good grades. I'm not naturally gifted at Potions like you."

"For one, yes I am naturally gifted," He boasted with a smirk crossing his arms. "Two I actually was thinking we should study later, but I will make you a deal."

Rose stopped fixing her hair to eye him in the mirror. "Which is?"

"I'll help you with Potions if you help me with Charms."

"You don't need help with Charms." She rolled her eyes wearingly. "Unless it's with women."

"Actually in that area I'm flawless." He said seriously, before breaking out a smile. "But lately I actually have had some difficulty focusing on charms long enough to remember what's going to be on N.E.W.T's."

She paused, her face poised in thought as she finished her last strand of hair. "Fine…But for the record I could figure out Potion's on my own."

"As I could with Charms, but it will save us a bit of time."

"Fine."

"Fine."

* * *

"You two," Mrs. Malfoy huffed walking in without knocking. "What is taking you two so long?"

Rose grimaced guiltily. "My apologies Mrs. Malfoy. I'm not used to waking up this early so I'm moving slowly."

Mrs. Malfoy walked over and began fixing Scorpius's part. "I do not know why you comb your hair so harshly. Your hair looks better like this."

"Mum," He said in a short voice though he didn't stop her.

"I'm just trying to help!" She raised her hand defensively before moving to Rose.

Mrs. Malfoy paused behind her. "You have beautiful hair my dear."

"Thank you Mrs. Malfoy. It is a pain to manage though."

"Do you mind if I…?" She took out her wand and gestured to Rose's hair.

Rose shook her head. "No go ahead."

When Mrs. Malfoy wasn't looking she shot Scorpius an unsure look. He just sat on the toilet seat cover haughtily with no reaction to this. Rose gulped nervously as Astoria ran her long slender hands through her hair going through every strand and even getting a few pieces Rose had missed. For the process Rose stayed perfectly still. This whole thing had thrown her off. Her mother never did this for her, but it made sense because she didn't ever bother with such trivial things.

"I always wanted a daughter," She mumbled to Rose.

"Sorry." Scorpius interjected dryly.

"You know what I mean." She told him scolding.

Rose shot Scorpius a look. "I understand what you mean…Do Malfoy's always just have one child?"

"One son, it's tradition." Scorpius responded airily.

"Are you going to continue that?" Rose shot at him.

Scorpius tensed and shifted in discomfort not answering her question.

"All done." Astoria declared running her hand through Rose's long crimson hair one more time.

"Thank you." Rose beamed at her. "I really appreciate everything you've done for me."

"Well you are the first girl Scorpius has brought home, willing or not." She reasoned much to Scorpius's disgruntlement.

Scorpius stood up and ushered Rose forward. "Food."

"Okay caveman." Rose muttered under her breath giving his mother one last smile before leaving for the dinning room.

As soon as they entered the dinning room Rose stiffened up as she saw Mr. Malfoy sipping coffee. She knew it was Easter vacation for them, but she assumed Mr. Malfoy would be off to work during the day. Seeing him made her tense up. It wasn't that he was scary, rude or unpleasant at all really. He just had this air about him that made her nervous. So she grabbed a bagel and poured herself some coffee, eating as quickly as possible. Scorpius felt the same and followed suit. As soon as they finished they left never saying a word to Scorpius's father.


	13. Back Up Option

For a few hours Scorpius and Rose just wandered around the Malfoy Manor. They knew they had to eventually study, but Rose refused to give up the opportunity to peruse an old pureblood house. For a minute she could have sworn she saw a moving oil painting of Scorpius, but he dragged her away when she tried to look.

"I don't know why if there wasn't a painting of you I couldn't just go in there." Rose huffed determinedly.

Scorpius gave her a dirty look. "Because it's off limits Weasley."

"Oh whatever," She rolled her eyes. "Drama King."

"Do you want to study?"

"Not yet," Rose sulked thinking of all the potions she didn't want to learn."

Scorpius grinned, slipping his hands in his trouser pockets. "I figured. Well we can go see the lake."

"It's dark out."

"That's the best part." He gave her an excited look. "Believe me, it's a good thing."

Rose let out an exaggerated sigh trying to seem annoyed, but then, before she could think anything of it she looped her arm through his and followed him out the back. Scorpius didn't mind, at first he didn't even notice until her fingers tightened around his forearm. Immediately he tugged her body closer. It wasn't planned, he just did it and once he did he had to stop himself from pulling away. If his parents say anything he'll just say he wanted to make sure she didn't trip over anything. Even in his head he knew that was very convincing, but as soon as he felt arm tighten on his he found it was a good enough reason for him.

It was warm out with a mild spring wind breeze. Rose once again was wearing a dress, but it wasn't as fancy as the one from the night before. It was a blue sundress that just flowed out, tugging back under her bust and the ends brushing the tips of her knees. He wanted to tell her she was beautiful, but he didn't. Instead he just stepped through the sprightly spring grass to the lake shed. Right before they arrived she began to skip a little in excitement.

"This place is so beautiful, but where the hell are you taking me Scorpius?"

"Alright…" He unhooked arms with her and wrapped his arm behind her waist. "Look behind the shed."

She gave him an unsure look. "If this is how I'm mysteriously set on fire…."

"Would you just look?"

"Fine! I shall look!"

The sky was dark, but there was a soft blue glow near the hollow of the moon. The water from the small manmade lake crept up the low rock bed keeping it from spilling over to the grass.

Rose's gaped for a moment, before breaking into a wide bright smile. There were hundreds of fireflies bouncing around the shed lighting up the grass beneath it like Christmas lights.

"Why are they all here like this?" She breathed in amazement.

"It's a spell." Scorpius said simply not looking at the lightning bugs.

She noticed his gaze, and smiled as slid his arm around her shoulder. The fireflies lit the space between them, and Scorpius's face tensed. Rose didn't understand why, but her question caught in her throat when his eyes locked onto hers. The look on his face wasn't one she'd ever seen him show. She didn't quite know what it meant.

"Rose…" He whispered feeling strange. But then as quickly as he had leaned in he pulled away, standing an inch away from her.

Scorpius stared at her his breathing was erratic as he tried to figure out what was bubbling up in his chest. But no matter how long he looked at her he couldn't figure out what it was. It wasn't new, he knew that, but he also knew that whatever it was, was stronger now. He wanted ask her if she felt it to, if he was crazy or if he was just imagining it all, but he didn't. He couldn't bring himself to ruin it.

"Are you okay?" She asked biting the side of her lip.

"Yeah," He nodded, "Yeah, but um," He blinked and scratched the back of his neck. "We should get inside and study."

Rose forced herself to walk behind him, crossing her arms.

* * *

In the middle of the Malfoy library Scorpius and Rose were huddled behind one of the large antique tables with all of their schoolwork piled in front of them.

For the first hour Rose roamed around the room, eyeing the hundreds of books longingly before finally giving in and studying. Scorpius said nothing, but just walked behind her patiently, watching her reactions to the various books.

She wanted to ask why he was being so weird earlier, but she had a feeling she wouldn't like the answer so instead she threw herself into her books and tried not to look at him directly. This relationship was infuriating and beginning to truly drive her crazy. What were they? Friends? Boyfriend Girlfriend? Or just something random? She hated even thinking those questions because it made her feel like a preteen girl with spots, but there was no steer clearing of this. Rose needed to know what this was and she was doing everything in her power to not be the one to bring it up. Maybe at her parent's house she could have the courage to ask him, but not here, not when his parents could pop in at any minute.

So instead of dragging whatever was going on through the mud, she forced them to go through their Potions review sheet and just tried not to look at him. At first she thought that if she didn't look directly at him she wouldn't think about it. That lasted about ten minutes before she started twitching under the table. She could do this. All she had to do was hold out one day; just one day and she could confront all of their problems.

"Okay, I don't get this." Rose muttered pointing to something in her textbook. "How are you supposed to add this with that? Wouldn't that make the cauldron explode with the mixture?"

"No," He leaned over his arm brushing over the textbook as he circled an ingredient. "This is what you always skip over. If you don't add newts tongue, _then_ it will."

Scratching the edge of her hairline, Rose yawned tilting her head in thought. "Oh…alright."

"Is this sticking? Or no?"

"I don't know." She mentioned furrowing her eyebrows as leaned on her arm. "I feel like I get it but every time I do the potion I get one of the elements wrong."

He gave her a sympathetic smile. "Why don't we take a break soon?"

"Might as well it has to be time for dinner soon right?"

"I'll check with my mum."

Scorpius closed their books and stacked them under their notes in a perfectly organized fashion. She smiled as he did it. She was completely on edge with him, but she couldn't stop herself from laughing at him. It was funny to her that he didn't even know that it wasn't a natural impulse for everyone to immediately clean up. It was just him. He glanced over and caught her looking at him with a smirk.

"What are you looking at?"

"You are so weird?"

Scorpius grinned widely. "Look whose talking."

He bent lower like he was going to say something to her and he might have, if Mr. Malfoy didn't walk in at that exact moment, but he did, so they shifted away from each other and tried to act like he didn't interrupt anything at all.

Rose cleared her throat and stood up as they prepared to leave. She didn't want to spend any more time with Scorpius's father than she had to. He still had yet to say anything rude or intimidating to her, but still just his mere presence at the hovering around the room put her on edge. It was his silence and stony gaze that threw her off. Everyone Rose knew was talkative and not big on eye contact. Maybe it was a Malfoy thing, because Scorpius did it too. But since it had been a while since Scorpius had treated her like how his father was, it startled her a bit. It didn't help that he looked uncannily like his son, it was almost as if Scorpius himself was giving her the look of cold distant, disapproval.

Not in the mood to get in a verbal battle with Mr. Malfoy, she crossed her arms and waited for Scorpius. She hoped he'd do something to cut down whatever speech his father had planned.

Scorpius noticed the tightness in her face, scowled at his father, before pushing aside the books and stepping in front of Rose. "We're going to get cleaned up for dinner."

"Scorpius I would like to speak with Rose for a few moments if you don't mind." Mr. Malfoy said calmly.

"I don't mind," He lied easily, "but father I physically can't move far enough away from her for you to talk to her."

"Yes, I have thought of a solution for that." Mr. Malfoy took out his wand, flicked it and his son dropped to the floor fully unconscious right next to Rose.

Rose gaped and bent over to check on him. "Scorpius?! Scorpius!"

"He's fine," Draco shrugged sitting down at the table predatorily. "Please sit."

Rose gave Scorpius's sleeping body a nervous look, but she held her ground. She didn't know why, but this had become so kind of power struggle and if he really wanted to talk to her alone this bad she would hold out long enough to hear why because really, what else was there for her to do?

"I have a few questions for you if you wouldn't mind," He said lightly, as if he didn't just attack his son.

She threw her hands up in disbelief and then finally decided to play along, as it didn't seem she had much of a choice. "Of course Mr. Malfoy. Why not?"

"What is your relationship with my son?"

She let out a low whistle and started shaking with silent laughter. "Oh-kay, you're not messing around...Um the honest answer is I have no idea."

"Well what would you like to happen?"

Rose shifted in her seat, tensing as she moved. "I…I don't know."

"Well maybe if I explained my position to you, it would clarify yours."

Not seeing how his opinion would do anything to help or hinder this situation she shrugged, gesturing for him to continue. "By all means…Because I really can't see how this can get any more uncomfortable."

"My son wants to become a healer. He has worked his entire life to restore the Malfoy name and go against the damage the generations before him have caused and I don't want him to have anything get in the way of that." Mr. Malfoy paused for a moment before continuing. "I don't have a problem with you. You are bright, driven and seem to be kind, but you are a distraction, and I think you know that."

Rose wanted to protest. She wanted to tell him that none of this was any of her business and that she was highly offended that he wouldn't think it was acceptable to talk this way to her.

But she didn't.

She didn't yell, she didn't scream, she didn't protest because it was all the reasons Mr. Malfoy provided and more that was stopping her from fully confronting her feelings.

She just sat there silently staring back at him because despite her hatred for him, and despite her anger at his words, she knew he was right. Scorpius and her would never work and it was stupid and reckless for them to lie themselves by trying.

Her eyes began to water as her face hardened and she demanded. "Well what do you expect me to do? Be mean to him? Making him hate me so he stays away from me? Because we've done that and yet we keep coming back. So what is your plan?" She let out a low half-hysteric laugh. "Because I really could use a back up option."

"Just say no to him. Maybe over the next few days he won't give up, but as soon as this curse is lifted he will, when your situations set in and he realizes it's the smart thing to do."

Rose clenched her knuckles so hard they became white. "And what if that doesn't work? What if he keeps coming back?"

"He won't." He said with absolute certainty. "Because he doesn't love you."

Draco Malfoy had said a lot of things that had insulted her, but this was so far past the line she didn't even know where the line was. Any politeness or sense of elderly respect was gone and she was just fueled with all of the resentment and anger she'd been trying to get away from. Her hands began to shake as she struggled to keep together. Within seconds she lost control and couldn't hold back anymore.

"And what makes you think you know that?" Rose demanded viciously, "What makes you think you know your son at all?"

"I know my son."

Rose shook her head, her eyes silted in loathing. "No, you don't."

Mr. Malfoy eyed her for what seemed like an eternity before rising to his feet. "Well that's your opinion. Now I hope you enjoy the rest of your time here and remember what I said."

"And you do the same." She snapped at him.

Like she could forget what he said. Like she could act like any part of that was remotely acceptable. Apart of her wanted to check on Scorpius like a normal considerate human being, but Rose wasn't in the state to do so. She needed a minute to process what just happened and understand what she was going to do about it, and there wasn't a way in hell she could do that if Scorpius was awake.

So she sat there, her bare arms crossed over her chest, crossing her legs Rose finally decided that this wasn't worth it. It wasn't worth the anxiety. It wasn't worth this…this bullshit. She needed to stop living in this imaginary romantic lala land. This was over and as soon as Scorpius woke up she'd tell him that.

Her eyes slid over to his sleeping body and her heart dropped. He was flat on his stomach with his arms spread along his sides as his light blond hair fell into his pale face.

It was all just words at this point, but would she actually be able to let him go? She liked to think it would be that simple, that she would be able to walk away from him and disconnect from her feelings, but as she looked at him her heart broke and she honestly didn't know if she could.


	14. Haven't You Heard?

Scorpius couldn't remember a time when he'd ever been this consistently mad at someone. Usually he'd get over whatever it was that was bothering him. The thing was, most people weren't worth being mad at. After twenty minutes he would get over it, but there was something about Rose that just dug under his skin.

"What happened? What did he say?!" He insisted.

It had been a day since his father had spelled him to sleep and it was driving him crazy. What had he said that had turned Rose so cold? And why wouldn't she tell him? They were leaving tonight and he couldn't wait any longer.

"I'm hungry, let's just get some food."

"What did he say?"

"Nothing!"

"You have said anything to me since yesterday! And you won't look at me!"

Rose refused to answer him.

He wished things could go back to the way they were when they just teased each other and got along, but he knew they never could.

Scorpius didn't know what to say or what to do. Her tone wasn't accusatory nor was it resentful. She didn't seem to blame him for whatever his father had said, but neither was she willing to tell him what it was. And he had no idea how he even felt about that. The only emotion that was clear was his anger. He was furious with his father for thinking he had the right to say anything to Rose let alone upset her. She liked to act all tough and strong, but Scorpius could see whatever Draco had said to her had hit there mark.

"Rose," He grabbed her arm and spun her around to face him.

Her big brown eyes widened, and for a split second he saw everything she was feeling; fear, rejection, longing, hurt. It was all there at the surface, before she managed to control herself.

"What?"

"We are going to your parents house tonight. Please don't do this," He grabbed her hands and cupped them into his chest. His steel eyes bore into her eyes determinedly. "Please, talk to me."

She opened her mouth, softening slightly in his arms, but her lip trembled.

"What's going on?" Astoria asked walking into the hallway, her eyes wide with alarm.

Rose immediately pulled away and looked away from him, but Scorpius didn't look away from Rose or let go of her. "Mum, dad decided yesterday to spell me asleep and then interrogate my girlfriend. And now she won't tell me what he said."

Rose had always had reasonably normal relationships; they always made sense and were rational and understandable. Having Scorpius inform his mother that they were in a relationship together when he had never said such words to her wasn't shocking; it nearly gave her an anxiety attack. Most girls would be ecstatic to hear something like that, but Rose wasn't naïve. This statement wouldn't hold up outside of this room. His mother liked Rose and wouldn't chastise him for saying it. Why he said it was a mystery to her, but she wasn't going along with this. Rose wasn't going to ruin his life or distract him from what he was supposed to accomplish.

"One, I am not your girlfriend. Don't call me that." She said ripping her arm away from him. "Your father told me what I already knew, he just felt the need to remind me."

His eyes flashed and his lips thinned, but she turned and before she could lose her nerve she started walking away. Her hands shook, but her words must have found there mark because he didn't say anything or try to stop her.

Rose didn't want to do this. She didn't. Eating silently, she ignore the looks Astoria was giving her and focused on getting through this. This wasn't going to end well. If Scorpius wanted to lie to himself and pretend that after they were separated this was going to continue then fine, that was his choice, but she wasn't going to lead him on and act like everything could keep going like it had. She didn't want to push him, so she pushed him away and hoped they could just remain civil.

He would be wounded, because it was clear that he at least fancied her, but he would be saved the pain she would going thru. It felt like someone had reached up into her chest and ripped out her heart. It wasn't broken or damaged; it was just gone, leaving a very obvious void that made her feel hollow and empty.

* * *

The day drew on longer that necessary and given that Scorpius had yet to say a single word to her about anything she knew that this really was over.

He had always thought that by the end of this he would feel relieved. The whole thing had been annoying, tedious and ridiculous. But being near her with everything standing between them made him think in a way he hadn't been able to…well ever. When he was involved with her he lost sense of what was going on in front of him. He was clueless and didn't understand it. But now, being near her, but not able to speak to her gave him a certain amount of distance and with that distance he was finally able to see clearly.

Earlier he hadn't been thinking when he called her his girlfriend he hadn't been thinking. It just had come out, but as soon as it did and he saw how scared it made her he realized he had to do something. It didn't matter what his father said anymore. It mattered what she believed and why she had believed it. He'd wait till they left for his house and would wait till he got her alone. Then he'd…he'd… He'd tell her he loved her and that when he called her his girlfriend it wasn't …it wasn't something he thought of beforehand it was something that just should have been true.

She tried to hurt him, to push him away, but he wasn't going to go away that easily. This wasn't just a crush. He knew with absolutely certainty that even after they graduated and went their separate ways that he would still feel this way. It wasn't the type of feeling that just went away, it would stick with him and he knew if he explained it to someone they would just tell him that he was young and he'd get over it. But what older people fail to remember is that some of the greatest heartache and the biggest scars are created when they are young. Some of them still hold onto their teenage sweethearts, calling them the one that got away.

But Rose was different. Someone would say love had blinded him, but it was more he knew exactly what was going to happen. Rose would graduate with honors, she would travel, and she would get that job she craved. He would become a healer and they both would move on. The thing was, he would always regret never telling him how he felt. Never seeing if this was real and at least trying to see if they could work.

They could and most likely would, crash and burn. It was an extremely high possibility, considering everything. The smart thing to do would be to accept his feelings and just to be civil with her. And Scorpius normally always chose the wisest option. He would calculate the rewards and risks, and automatically would chose whatever seemed to have the less likelihood of ending badly.

But looking at her, watching her long red hair fall into her face as she tried not to look at him, he realized he didn't care. Even trying to be with her would be more reward then the possibility of it not working out.

The question was when he was going to make that clear to her?

Rose grabbed her luggage and headed for the door. She turned to thank Mrs. Malfoy, despite everything she had been extremely kind to her. It wasn't her fault that her husband was a raging dick.

"Thank you Mrs. Malfoy-"

"I told you to call me Astoria," She pulled Rose into a hug and whispered, "You are welcome anytime dear."

Rose smiled brightly, but her eyes were watering. "Thank you." She could see Draco rounding the corner so she quickly left with Scorpius trailing behind her as they left the grounds.

She stopped when the exited the gate, realizing that she would have hold his hand to side along apparate him to her house. The past two days she'd done her best to really keep their three-foot limit the minimum to distance herself from him. A week ago she would have never thought anything of it, but now she couldn't handle the idea of touching him.

He did it first; Scorpius reached out and grabbed her hand, interlocking their fingers. She gulped and ignored the warmth that spread across her hand at his touch. Before she could think too much about it she apparated them to the burrow.

They landed on the grass cleanly, but she immediately released his hand and charged up to her house. This was going to be a long three days, and she just wanted to get the worst part over with already so she could go back to putting all of her power into acting like he didn't exist.

Walking in to the empty kitchen Rose called, "Hello? Hugo? Mum?"

Albus wandered in from the living room with a smirk. "Oh look," Albus gestured to the ground, "There's vomit…and oh look, it came from me."

Rose rolled her eyes and ruffled her cousin's hair. "You're an idiot Al. Where is everybody at?"

"Well you came so late, Gran is setting up dinner."

She nodded, "Does anyone know I'm bringing him?"

Albus laughed, "You think I would ruin that surprise? Not in a million years." He turned to Scorpius and pulled him into a quick hug. "How are you holding on mate? Has my cousin driven you mad yet?"

"Not yet," Scorpius smirked at Albus earning a confused look from Rose.

"Just your luggage by the stairs," She instructed Scorpius as she did the same thing.

On the patio she could hear her family chatting loudly about all sorts of things. She knew they wouldn't react kindly to her bringing Scorpius. They didn't take change well or quietly, but Rose figured she'd just head them off by explaining that it was just for the week and that it was her punishment for punching him in the face, which she didn't do, but would sound better to her family than what actually happened.

"Okay," She breathed letting out a slow breath. Finally she looked at Scorpius, and immediately wished she hadn't. "Come on."

The way Scorpius saw it the Weasley's were bees and he was bird trying to covertly sneak into their nest. This wasn't going to be easy, or comfortable for him, at all.

As soon as they headed out, Albus draped his arm around Scorpius shoulders, "Don't worry mate, I've got your back."

Scorpius gave him a look. "It looks like I'm going to need it."

Slowly every relative turned to gawk at them, and Scorpius felt the urge to crawl back into the house rising. Especially when Rose's father locked eyes on him. For a second he didn't think it was that bad, but then he saw Harry Potter clamp a hand on his shoulder to keep him from rising.

"What is he doing here?" He demanded, his eyes fixed on Scorpius.

"Haven't you heard?" Albus grinned evilly wrapping his arms around them, "They're dating."

Rose's entire face caught on fire as she open mouth stared at her cousin. A heat wave came over her as the entire room, which was full of twenty loud, obnoxious people, became dead silent Albus's words seemed to dawn on them.

"OVER MY DEAD BODY!" Ron bellowed furiously standing up.

Rose rushed in front of Scorpius, her hands raised. "DAD! CALM DOWN!"

"LIKE HELL I WILL!" He roared as Hermione and Harry moved to hold him back. "THIS IS NOT HAPPENING ROSE-"

"WE AREN'T DATING!" Rose shouted over him. "Scorpius has never asked me out! We have never so much as gone out on a date! Albus," She paused to punch her cousin in the arm, hard. "Is just being a royal prick."

"Then what is he doing here?!" Ron demanded still not convinced.

"I!" Rose pointed to her own chest for emphasis, her back leaning back on Scorpius's chest. "Got into a fight with him. For a few days we have to spend time together to get over it." She told him, "Now sit down before you blow your blood pressure!"

Hermione tugged on Ron's arm to force him back into his seat. Rose and Scorpius walked around the table to the kids side, which was as far from her father as humanly possible. Albus sat down next to Scorpius laughing hysterically.

"You should have seen your face!"

"Al," Scorpius said in a low voice, "You may be best mates…but as soon as I get the chance, I'm mur-dering you."


	15. La Douleur Exquise

For the rest of the day Scorpius successfully avoided Ron, but was not able to escape the looks the older man was giving him. Rose had said he would overreact, but Scorpius didn't fully understand until he was actually sitting there enduring his glares. Scorpius began to appreciate a bit of what Rose was getting at about not being together. He couldn't imagine how bad it would be if he was actually dating Rose. Still it didn't deter him from dating her as much as it should have.

He knew that in most relationships having the parents dislike the relationship of the couple made the couple want to be together more, but with them it wasn't like that. Scorpius wasn't trying to prove anything by being with Rose. He didn't want to fight her parents because it wasn't about them. It was about the fact that he could actually see a future with her.

Albus's brother James sat down next to Scorpius as all the cousins and Scorpius congregated in the living. He looked a lot like Albus, same hair, same build, but his eyes weren't the same. For one they were brown and for another thing they were glaring at Scorpius in away Albus never would.

"So what exactly is going on?"

"…Um I'm sitting on the floor." Scorpius offered. "What about you?"

"I mean with you and my cousin." James began harshly, his voice low enough to not involve Rose, who was deep in discussion with her cousin Lily about something only three feet away.

"Why?" Scorpius shot back, crossing his arms and giving the older boy a look.

James looked taken aback. He'd expected a denial. "Because she's my cousin and we happen to be a very protective family."

"Yeah," Scorpius scoffed, crossing his arms and leaning his back against the sofa behind him. "I've noticed."

"You still have yet to answer my question Malfoy." He pointed out tilting his head.

"What exactly do you want to know?"

"Are you shagging her?" He demanded threateningly.

"No," Scorpius answered, "I'm not."

James frowned and lowered his wand. "oh…"

Of all the people Scorpius wanted to talk to James Potter wasn't even in the hemisphere of the list. For years they hated each other, but after the ordeal with Rose he had to talk to someone. It was killing him to keep all of this to himself and since Albus clearly couldn't handle this. He might as well tell the only person who was asking.

"I am in love with her." Scorpius muttered under his breath after making sure Rose wasn't listening.

James's eyes bugged out and he scooted back away from him like he had told him he had dragon pox and it was contagious. "YOu..What?!"

Scorpius gave him a horrible look as Rose and Lily turned to look at them for a second before turning back around. "Merlin, what is with you Potters? Are you incapable of keeping anything quiet?"

James glowered at him. "Well at least we aren't known for being backstabbing cowards."

"No just attention-seeking jackasses." Scorpius replied crossly.

Pausing James considered getting up and leaving. He hated Scorpius. It was simple; he never liked the kid and had beaten the crap out of him at least seven times over the years. But looking at him in this light he didn't look like the same person. Not better not worse, but just different.

"Little piece of advice," James mentioned, bending over with a condescending look on his face, "I understand that your entire family are criminals, so you were taught and raised to be a sneaky, evil little git but it might be quicker if you just told my cousin how you feel so she can dump your sorry arse and you both can get on with your lives."

Scorpius said, "And if she feels the same?"

James looked at Rose who was shaking with laughter at an impersonation Lily was doing. "Then Merlin love her."

* * *

An hour or so later Hermione came down. She waited a minute to break up Lily and Rose's conversation and took a minute to get a good look at Scorpius. It surprised her to see he had taken out a book to read. It was clear that he didn't want to get involved in the girls conversation of Paris fashion, but Rose's mum didn't expect him just politely pull out a book and begin to read.

She shook her head and said, "Okay girls time for bed. Lily head up."

"Um what about us?" Rose asked gesturing at Scorpius though she wouldn't look at him.

"You two will be sleeping down here in the living room."

"The living room?" Rose groaned, "You can't be serious mum. Everyone is loud as hell in the morning."

She shrugged, "Your father wouldn't hear of any other option."

Scorpius laughed under his breath at that as grabbed a pillow and blanket and settled into the floor automatically letting Rose take the couch. Hermione frowned thoughtfully surprised again by this gesture.

"Um…Scorpius, here." She flicked her wand, and a temporary mattress appeared beneath him.

He tensed up for a second, looking down at the mattress in alarm before glancing up at her. "Oh…Thank you Mrs. Weasley."

"Oh for the love of god don't call me that…" She flinched, "Just call me Hermione. My mother in law is Mrs. Weasley and she would think it was odd if anyone else was called that."

Scorpius nodded, "Okay."

"Or you can just call me, 'Rose's mum,' if that's too informal for you." She offered worriedly.

"Mum," Rose laughed giving her mother a look, "It's fine. Thank you."

"Yeah," Hermione scoffed ruffling her daughter's hair as Rose settled into the couch. "You should be nice to me. If it weren't for me you'd both be sleeping outside for being here."

"Dad needs to calm down. He's acting like I'm pregnant and Scorpius is a terrorist."

"Well, that's exactly how he feels." Hermione laughed pushing her bushy hair out of her face.

Rose sighed tying her hair back into a bun, "Well that's ridiculous."

"That's your father." She laughed again before looking back at Scorpius. "If you need anything feel free to ask Rose or I. I would like to say the men would be just as accommodating…but the men in this family are …stubborn."

"Yeah well they have to be able to stand up to the men." Rose snorted.

"We aren't that bad."

"I have to disagree with you there." Scorpius laughed in the darkness, the glow of the fireplace lighting only half of his face.

Rose instinctively rolled over and smacked him. "Watch it."

And he laughed, because for a moment they both forgot themselves.

Hermione smiled. "Night you two."

"Night mum," Rose said as Scorpius said, "Night."

* * *

Rose scuffled over determinedly so that she would be looking at the inside of the couch. She knew if she faced him he would say something to her. Though she had no idea what he would say to her it still terrified her to be all alone with him. The curse should have been lifted already. Mostly she had given up on the notion that he would do something to prove that she was wrong. There was just a small piece of her that still hoped he might and there wasn't anything she could do about that because there was always going to be a part of her that believed in him, that believed in them.

Tugging the covers up to her chin she tried to think of what Charlie or Blake would say. She had never talked to them about this. It all had happened so …unexpectedly and Scorpius was always right next to her so she never got the chance. Even if she did she wouldn't know what she would say. How could she explain this to her friends when she hardly ever understood it herself? The saddest part was that she had spent so much time with Scorpius in the past month that if she needed to talk to someone she would just automatically talk to him. It was just natural to talk to him about what was bothering her, but now when she needed to the most she couldn't because he was the problem.

When she was talking to Lily she insisted on talking about her cousin and all the other gossip Lily had at her disposal, she couldn't handle talking to Scorpius. It was incredibly and unforgivably rude that she brought him here just to ignore him, but she had nothing else to work with. If she even was nice to him for the sake of him not being isolated her male relatives would only attack him faster. It was better off to just talk to him as little as possible. That way they would get enough distance so that when the curse broke they wouldn't feel obligated to feel anything for each other.

That was a lie or mostly a lie anyway. He would move on and become successful without any drama or romantic entanglements with her. His life would go back to being by the book and simple, the way he liked it. She wouldn't bother at all. They just had to get through these last two days and they would be home free.

Clenching her fists she listened to hear if his breathing had evened out to see if he was sleeping. He wasn't and that made her heart race. Why wouldn't he just go to sleep? It drove her crazy to think he was awake so close to her and yet not saying anything. After awhile Rose fell into a restless sleep.

Scorpius couldn't sleep at all. He stared at the fire and thought about what he was going to do. When Rose started thrashing around in her sleep. He was going to sit up and wake her up when she spun off the couch and landed on him. He groaned as he elbow connected with his stomach. She moaned, her body was flat against his and his body wasn't exactly the best to fall on considering his body fat percentage. Her hair had slipped out of her hair tie and was all over his face.

She scoffed and moved her hair out of his face, her eyes half closed. "Sorry."

"It's fine," He grumbled.

She shifted to move and just as she did she looked her eyes caught on him. It was the first time she'd looked at him properly days. Once she did her heart caught in her throat and everything she had been telling herself disappeared as the warmth from the fire warmed the side of her face.

"You okay?" She whispered, her hands unintentionally resting on his bare chest.

"It was a short distance. I'm fine," He said quietly unable to look anywhere but at her.

Rose shook her head, her face filling with regret she pushed up from and was going to get off of him when his arms shot out to stop her.

"Wait." He insisted.

"Why?" She groaned her head hanging. "This isn't going to go anywhere."

"Why?"

She looked taken aback. "What do you mean why?"

"I mean why?" He sat up, cradling her in his lap. "Why do you think this can't work?"

"Uh…You want to be a healer. I want to be a traveling reporter, do those careers sound equal to you?"

Scorpius paused. "No. They don't."

"We…we are headed in two different directions. I'm not saying there isn't something here." She looked away. "I'm just saying that right now it just doesn't make sense."

"But...I... I love you." He admitted taking a sharp intake of air.

She gasped, her eyes watering as she analyzed the sincerity in his eyes. Rose knew it would be easier if she lied, but she couldn't. Not with him looking at her like that. "I…I love you too."

"So then can't we work this out?" He asked, his face tensing.

"Merlin…" She muttered giving him a hopeless look. "I…I don't know what to say. If we dated now we just would get everyone all rattled up and this would get worse….and I just…" Tears began to slip down her cheeks. "I just think it makes more sense to not do this."

"Don't cry," He breathed, rubbing her tears away with his thumbs, his own lip trembling. "Please don't cry Rose."

"I'm ss sorry." She cried shaking.

He pulled her into his arms, his hands running through her hair, tucking her into his chest. "Don't apologize."

His eyes grew wet, but he held it together. Getting upset wouldn't help anything. It would just make this harder on her. He just held her and running his hand through her hair and trying to control his breathing as the warmth of her kept him together.

* * *

The didn't say anything to each other the next day or even the day after that when they were getting ready to head back to Hogwarts. It wasn't the best Easter break he had ever had what with Ron Weasley glaring him down and everything with Rose, but Albus noticed the mood shift and made it his mission to cheer them both up. Even James tried to be nicer to Scorpius. He didn't question why, he was too heartbroken to think on it, but Rose had a feeling that one of them had overheard their conversation and told the other. She never found out though because she really didn't need to know. It didn't change anything.

James stood next to Scorpius while Rose took turns hugging her family goodbye. "You know, we used to mess with Rose the most... Lily's the baby of the family, but Rose was always one of the boys so we didn't think anything of it."

"What did you guys do?" Scorpius wondered watching the guilt form on James's face.

James cringed, "We used to fly her around when she was sleeping and then she'd wake up and freak out."

"That's why she's terrified of heights…" Scorpius whispered thoughtfully.

"Yeah…" James groaned running a hand through his hair. "Not our finest hour, but what's a childhood without a few scars?"

"That's one way to look at it." Scorpius said, feeling sorry for Rose as he pictured her younger self spazzing in the air.

"Watch it," James eyed Scorpius darkly. "Look I know I gave you a rough time and we both know you deserve it, but…maybe down the line you two can work it out."

"Yeah maybe." Scorpius muttered, watching Rose scold her father before embracing him in a large hug.

Albus, Rose and Scorpius apparated back to the train station and climbed aboard. Albus sat with them in the Head compartment and filled in all the silences with all of the stories Teddy had told him over break. Both Rose and Scorpius appreciated it because the last thing either one of them wanted was to be alone together stuck in the silence with nothing but the remainder of their dwindling time to think about.

Once they arrived at the castle they headed up to the headmasters office much slower than necessary. Neither one of them were particularly happy to end this. They didn't talk. His hands were stuffed into his pants pockets, while she crossed her arms, trying not to count every step. Soon enough they had made it to the Headmasters office though they both couldn't remember how all of the time could have passed so quickly.

"I'm proud of you two." Headmaster Higgins proclaimed taking the curse of with a flick of his wand, "I really thought this might have backfired but you two proved me wrong. And if you want to know a secret…I love being proved wrong."

Rose grinned, but as soon as she looked at Scorpius it faded.

"You both are free to go and you are no longer on probation. Good day to you both." He said smiling at them.

Scorpius lead the way out of the room and they both walked down together. It wasn't even on purpose anymore it was a habit now for them to stay in pace with each other. Even now they couldn't shake it. Once they made it to the stairs, they paused and looked at each other.

He felt like someone was slowly draining his heart of blood. It was hurt, but it weakened him to look at her and know that he couldn't be with her. She felt exactly the same way. Scorpius moved to walk away, but she charged forward and hugged him. He clenched his eyes shut as he locked his arms around her. She stood up on her tips toes to get as close to him as possible.

Then, her lips brushed his ear as she whispered, "Someday… Scorpius," before releasing him and running down the stairs away from him.

* * *

Rose sat in the Gryffindor common room a few days later feeling incredibly old. She looked around the place and felt nostalgic for a place she would soon leave. It had taken her awhile to get up the courage to explain to her friends what had happened, but now that she had they were both staring at her with sad looks on their faces, like puppies that were denied treats.

"I believe you have, La Douleur Exquise." Charlie told Rose philosophically.

"Are you going to tell her what that is or is it just supposed hang in the air?" Blake questioned playing with the end of her braid idly, her blue eyes centering on Charlie.

Charlie sighed shifting to the coffee table to sit in front of them both. "It means the exquisite pain of wanting someone that you know you can never have by circumstance or subjective decision."

Rose groaned rubbing her face. "That fits about right."

"How long has it been since you've seen him?"

"A couple of days." Rose muttered, her face looking paler than normal.

"Well I'm sure it's for the best right?" Charlie said looking at Blake for back up.

Blake nodded, giving them both a supportive grin. "What's that saying? Anything that's meant to happen…happens when it's supposed to?"

"That's the gist of it." Rose nodded sighing. She gave them a look and clapped her hands together. "Well Blake you should get to the pitch for the match. Charlie, I'm meeting you and Alex at the game?"

"Yep." Charlie nodded before giving Rose a look. "You sure you're alright?"

"Yeah," She smiled weakly, "I just want to change into a Gryffindor shirt for the game you know?"

"Okay." Charlie nodded knowingly.

Rose wandered back to her common room, passing students who were running out of the building with their face painted getting pumped for the match versus Slytherin. There were only a few weeks left of school. She had already gotten the internship she wanted for the summer so her future was pretty much set with or without final grades. It had been long enough for her to get past the point where she would cry herself to sleep. Scorpius stuck to his word and didn't speak to her or bother her at all.

So it surprised her when she went into the common room just as he was walking towards the door. Their eyes locked for the briefest of seconds and Rose felt all the anxiety she'd been feeling build up in her chest, her stomach and throat tensing up. It was the feeling people felt before they were slammed by cars, she was sure. He wanted to say something to her, but he knew he shouldn't so he stayed silently and just looked at her.

"Well…" She blushed, "Good luck."

"Thanks Rose." He smiled faintly before grabbing his broom and leaving the room.


	16. Someday

On the day of graduation Rose sat on the edge of her bed and stared around her room. Everything she owned had been stripped out and packed away to be sent home until she started her internship. The room was pretty much empty except for the bed, the dresser and the large mirror on the wall. Her bare feet rested on the cold hardwood floor as she glanced around the hollow room. Blake with Albus setting up the decorations for the ceremony, it was his punishment for losing the bet he apparently had made with Scorpius over who would win the house cup. Slytherin won, so Albus had to spend hours doing Scorpius's end of the graduation decorations.

"Rose?" Lucy called sensibly knocking on the door.

"Yeah?"

Lucy came in; wearing a clean cut black dress. "Have you seen Hugo anywhere?"

"Um. Last time I checked he was still messing around on the grounds with his friends."

Lucy frowned. "I hadn't thought of that. I'll go look." She paused before leaving giving Rose a thoughtful look. "You okay Rose?"

Rose said, "I'm fine. I'll see you later."

An hour or so later she was changed into her graduation robes, but she wasn't ready go down to the ceremony quite yet. She had some time and she figured the best way to spend it was in her room. Almost everyone she would miss Rose had already made plans to see over the summer before she left for her first assignment.

There was a knock on the door and Rose rolled her eyes. "Lucy, you are ridiculous. I'm fully dressed and I will be down there in a minute. Do I need to remind you that I'm older than you? And therefore don't need to be treated like a child."

The door opened and Rose was a little stunned to see Scorpius standing in the doorway.

"Oh…Hi."

He smiled back, already dressed in his green robes, with his graduation hat in his hand. "Hi."

For a minute neither of them said anything. There wasn't really much left to say between them. After today they wouldn't see each other again. It wasn't even guaranteed that they'd speak again later either with everything they had to do and all the people they had to say goodbye to. This was really the last time for them.

She sighed and pushed herself up to stand, in her hands she fiddled with her hat. "You know…I really hated you a few months ago…Like I wished a bludger would hit you during a game hated you."

His lip curled up into a smile. "Oh?"

"Yeah." She smiled, looking at him in the eye.

"Well the feeling was mutual Weasley."

She nodded with a smirk. "I could tell when you hexed books to hit me for no reason other than you were bored."

His smile grew into a smirk. "Well I had to get your attention somehow."

"Well you got it."

She walked forward a few steps she was standing in front of him. Her eyes were brimming with tears, but she couldn't look him in the eye. It was one thing to avoid him and try to let go of him. That way she could still see him around the castle or hear about him from Albus. This was something different. She would have to actually let go off him and she didn't think she could do it.

Scorpius knew this was a bad idea. He should have just let her go and stayed away, but he had to see her one more time. Now, standing in front of her, he couldn't stop looking at her. She was truly beautiful. He loved the way her bright red hair looked caught in the sunlight and how when she was nervous about something she couldn't look the person responsible in the eye.

"Well," She sighed, rocking back and forth on her heels. "I guess we should go down."

"Yeah," He nodded his jaw tightening. "We should."

Rose moved for the door but instead of walking past him, she paused and glanced up at him. Her big brown eyes were full of tears and it broke his heart. She reached up and pulled him into a tight hug.

_"Merlin this hurts_." She breathed her head resting on his shoulder.

"I know." He whispered wrapping his arms around her quickly. Her held her closely trying to memorize the way he felt in that exact moment.

"_Someday_ Rose." He told her softly.

She nodded wiping her eyes and letting go of him. "Yeah. Someday."

* * *

"You have to be the stupidest person in the world Albus," Rose scoffed waltzing into his hospital room, her hair up in a high ponytail as she surveyed her cousin.

He grinned weakly, "I heard you were back."

She smiled and gently hugged his banged up body. "Got in from Peru yesterday and my mum told me you were in here. She said you went after a suspect without back up." Rose added giving him a scolding look as she sat in the visitor's chair across from him.

He shrugged. "It's my job. I heard you were back permanently though, what's that about?"

"I've been traveling for six years. I'm exhausted." She laughed, rubbing the sides of her face. "I've transferred to homicide. Burt Maclan just retired and a new kid wanted to take my spot so it all worked out."

Albus nodded closing his eyes briefly before refocusing on his favorite cousin. "So are you still with what's his face?"

"Kyle?" She questioned, "No we split up ages ago. I've been by myself for the past few months."

"I guess you just can't seem to find anybody worth hanging around for eh?" He teased mimicking their Uncle Fred.

"I've dated five guys since Hogwarts. You guys act like I'm constantly weighing my relationship options."

"Well now that James is engaged they all think you are bound to be next."

"I'm 24!" Rose snorted in disbelief. "I have plenty of time."

Albus pointed to his own chest with his battered hand. "Did I say your biological clock was ticking? No I believe gran was the one that said that."

"Which I really appreciate you bringing up," She glared at him sarcastically. "What about you anyway?"

"Don't have any bloody time to find a bird. I'm working all the time."

Rose gave him a sympathetic look which quickly turned evil. "Well I guess I'll just have to help you with that won't I?"

"Oh Merlin, not you too. My mum and Lily have already tried-"

"Yes, but who knows you better than me?" Rose reasoned giving him a look.

Albus shrugged not answering the question. "Have you seen Charlie lately?"

"Uh no. I owled her last month. I think she just got promoted. She's working in the missuse of magic department…why?"

"No reason. I just haven't heard much about her from Blake."

Rose leaned forward in her chair, and pressed her hands together with a frown. "Well they don't really talk that much anymore. They have opposite schedules since Blake works the Auror night shift with you."

"True." He yawned, shifting his position on his pillow.

"Do you want anything?"

Albus paused pensively. "Ice chips would be nice."

"Okay I'll be right back then."

Albus smirked as he watched his cousin leave. He was injured that was true, but Rose could have visited him anytime. He specifically had his aunt encourage her to come at this time. She had long ago stopping asking how Scorpius was and he stopped bringing him up. The look on her face never changed. Rose may have believed that she was perfectly fine with hearing about him, but her eyes said something different. And Albus knew why. Hearing about Scorpius in any respect just reminded her of what she was without. After all she had everything else going for her. She loved her job and now seemed enthused to go in a different but equally as exciting direction. Their family life hardly changed although they seemed to be growing by the minute considering that both Victoire and Dominique were pregnant. There was however one area that she didn't seem to excel at and oddly enough it was the same area that his dear friend Scorpius had a problem with.

At Hogwarts, Albus agreed with them both that dating then was pointless as they would have to separate almost as soon as they got together, but now they were older and over the years James had come to see how well they would fit together.

Scorpius adjusted his lab-coat as he examined the paperwork in front of him. He was going to be there all night. One of the first years had completely buggered up all of the tests forcing Scorpius to personally re do them all. Thankfully he had an hour before the patient was even able to do so. This gave him time to cool down and not murder the panicky 19 year old under his charge.

"Scorpius?" One of the assistant healers said tapping him on the shoulder, "Your mother is looking for you."

Scorpius looked down the hall and peeked at the receptionist desk. "Thank you for telling me. Do you know where she is?"

"I saw her talking to a young lady by the circulation desk."

He gave her a smile and tucked the paperwork to the side of the desk. Later he would grab all of the parchment and deal with this mess, but for now he was happy that he was going to see his mother. He could use a good distraction. After his longtime girlfriend left him a few months ago, Scorpius had been throwing himself into work much to Albus's chagrin. Though Albus had a worse schedule, he was less than understanding when his friend said he was kind of done with dating. It was impossible to explain something like that to Albus. Albus couldn't find a girl himself, but he always assumed that everyone else just made it hard on themselves and didn't look hard enough. Most of them time Scorpius wanted to know what he was supposed to do that he hadn't been doing.

Spotting his mother, Scorpius grinned and went to interrupt her when he saw who she was talking to.

It had been a long time since he thought of Rose Weasley. He long had written her off as something that just wasn't meant to work out, but there she stood. Her long red hair was up, but he could by the length that it wasn't as long as it used to be. There were a few more wrinkles on her face and her clothes were much more mature than the last time he had seen her, but other than that she didn't look much different.

"Astoria," Rose said crossing her arms, "You need to tell that woman off. I know you like to be the bigger person, but she's cheated for the past two years in a row. You deserve to win."

Astoria sighed, her dark much more grey than brunette. "I know. I just don't understand how this gardening competition became so cutthroat."

"If you put people in a competition there's always someone willing to go farther than reasonable to win." Rose told her sympathetically.

"Yes that's true." She laughed lightly. "I'm sorry for boring you dear. I was just waiting for Scorpius-"

"Well you don't have to wait anymore." Scorpius said stepping forward.

A bright smile grew on Rose's face. "…Hi."

Scorpius smiled back at her warmly. "Hi. It's been a long time."

"Yeah…Albus mentioned you got a job here. He just didn't say you were working today." She flushed, biting the side of her lip.

Astoria looked at the pair of them and grinned. The expression left her face as she looked at her watch. "Is that the time? Oh no! Scorpius I have to go! I'm supposed to have dinner out with your father tonight. I will visit you on Thursday." She kissed him on the cheek and moved to hug Rose. "And you and I shall have lunch now that you are a permanent resident."

"You have a deal." Rose laughed, hugging her back. "We will defeat those horrible women."

Astoria smiled and walked briskly away, but as soon as she turned the corner she paused to listen to the rest of the conversation.

"So um…How have you been?" She asked glancing quickly at his left hand before looking back to his face.

"I've been good you?"

"Good. I'm back home now. I've transferred to homicide."

He grinned. "One thrill to another?"

"Something like that." She smiled impishly. "I'm not keeping you from anything am I?"

"No." He shook his head noticing her bare left hand. "You're here to see Albus?"

She nodded rolling her eyes. "Yeah…"

"Do you want to get a quick coffee and catch up?" He asked directly.

"Well I wouldn't want to get you into trouble with your girlfriend." She said innocently.

He smirked, "I don't have a girlfriend, but I'm sure your boyfriend wouldn't like you going with me."

"If he existed he probably wouldn't." She grinned back.

They eyed each other for a moment before they both turned and began to walk down the hallway leading to the cafeteria. Neither of them were touching, but they never walked farther than three feet away from one another.

Astoria Malfoy smiled and left the building, silently going through the options of what she would get them as a wedding present.

* * *

**Authors Note:**  
Thank you everyone for reading this! And a double thank you to everyone who has reviewed! I hope you liked this ending and this story. _If you want to follow me on tumblr I am Siriusuntiltheveryend._ Shocking right? THANK YOU GUYS!


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